Washington, D.C.—The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) announced its 2010-2011 Executive Committee officers at the 67th Annual Convention & Exposition in Las Vegas.
The new committee includes:
Chairman, John Baker of National Wine & Spirits, Inc.;
Vice Chairman, Robert Harmelin of Allied Beverage Group;
Senior Vice President, Charles Merinoff of The Charmer Sunbelt Group;
Vice President, Douglas Hertz of United Distributors;
Secretary, Alan Dreeben of Republic National Distributing Company;
Treasurer, Brien Fox of Henry A. Fox Sales Company, Inc.;
Large Member Caucus Representative, Todd Epsten of Major Brands Premium Beverage Distributors;
Large Member Caucus Representative, Carmine Martignetti of Martignetti Companies; and
Large Member Caucus Representative, Carl Martignetti of Martignetti Companies.
WSWA Chairman, John Baker, is the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of National Wine & Spirits, Inc. (NWS). Founded in 1936 and headquartered in Indianapolis, NWS operates as a wine and spirits wholesaler in Indiana and an Authorized Distribution Agent (ADA) and wine wholesaler in Michigan. NWS’s 1,100 employees proudly service 20,000 licensees with 14,000 products, represented by 450 suppliers. Baker was recognized by the Indianapolis Business Journal as a member of its most recent Forty Under 40 class of up-and-coming professionals.
WSWA Treasurer, Brien Fox, is the newest member to the Executive Committee. Currently its CEO, Fox joined Henry A. Fox Sales Company, Inc. in 1993. Fox follows in his father’s, Henry A. “Happy” Fox, Jr., path of WSWA involvement as Happy was once the Chairman of WSWA. Henry A. Fox Sales Company was founded in 1952, and the current customer base is made up of the 3,000 retail licensees in the state of Michigan.
WSWA also accepted nine new member companies and Board of Directors to the association:
Liquor Group Louisiana dba ChanDan Wholesale Liquors of Metairie, La., Brian Bruno, Owner/Operator; Glidewell Distributing Company of Fort Smith, Ark., Nick Glidewell, Vice President;
Kentucky Eagle Inc. of Lexington, Ky., David Stubblefield, Vice President-General Manager;
Testa Wines of the World Ltd. of Oyster Bay, N.Y., Deborah Lane, President;
Market Street Distributors of Paterson, N.J., Francisco Nunez, President;
Sabaca Beverage Group of Buffalo Grove, Ill., Melissa-Ann Miller, President;
Vinocopia Inc. of Richfield, Minn., Dan Haugen, Secretary/Treasurer;
Steven Altschuler LLC dba Northeast Wine/Mr. A Wine Co. of Teaneck, N.J., Steven Altschuler, President; and
The Henry Wine Group of Los Angeles, William Baribault, President.
“Member involvement and participation in the association is critically important, so I’m really pleased with the strong team of members we have assembled on our Executive Committee and I’m equally excited by the overall growth of the membership reflected by the new member companies that recently joined,” WSWA President and CEO Craig Wolf said.