On Tuesday, the Brewers Association (BA) — a not-for-profit trade organization dedicated to small and independent American craft brewers — announced that Bart Watson will be taking on the role of president and CEO of the organization starting January 6. The news arrives months after current president and CEO Bob Pease gave word of his plans to retire in early 2025 after 32 years with the BA.

Watson joined the BA in 2013 following a tenure in the world of academia, where he served as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Iowa Department of Political Science, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Berkeley Roundtable on the international economy, and a University of California Berkeley School of Public Health lecturer. After holding the role of the BA’s chief economist for 11 years, he took on the additional responsibility of vice president of strategy and membership in April 2024. On December 12, the BA board of directors confirmed that Watson would be stepping up to the new roles during a meeting in Atlanta.

“Bart’s in-depth understanding of the craft beer industry and landscape and his decade-plus of experience within the Brewers Association makes him uniquely poised to step into the president and CEO role on day one with a strategic vision and plan,” board chair Leah Cheston stated in the press release. “The board of directors is excited for the next chapter and looks forward to working with Bart to chart the path forward for our members and our industry.”

In his new role, Watson will reportedly tackle legislative and regulatory issues affecting independent craft breweries, be a spokesperson for said breweries in the media, manage the development of resources and events designed to benefit BA members, and support the BA’s continued growth as a strategic governing body.

Admittedly, 2024 has not been the best year for the American craft beer industry. As the BA reported in its recent article “The 2024 Year in Beer,” national craft beer production volume is expected to be down by over two percent by the end of the year. On top of that, 2024 will be the first year since the early aughts that brewery closings outpaced openings.

“Craft has been going through a difficult period and I am committed to finding ways to help our members navigate those challenges,” Watson stated in the announcement. “Our members are incredibly innovative and adaptable entrepreneurs, and I’m ready to work with them and for them to support their businesses and bring excitement back to the category.”

Watson’s new role will be unlike any of the previous positions he’s held at the BA. Given that the BA is a trade organization, the function of its president and CEO is naturally more political than the jobs Watson has excelled at in the past. Still, the overall outlook is hopeful.

VP Pro Take

“The old BA under Bob Pease is dying and the new BA under Bart Watson struggles to be born. Now is the time of takes.

Here’s mine: this is one of the best moves the trade org’s board could have realistically made here. Since my first time interviewing Watson over a decade ago, he’s been a clear-eyed advocate for small independent brewers without being a delusional zealot about the segment’s shortcomings. He’s an uncommonly talented narrative storyteller for somebody with such strong analytical and research skills, and he has hard-earned, incredibly deep knowledge of both the American craft brewing landscape and the BA itself. He’ll lean on all those skills to navigate the org and its constituents through the most challenging period the segment has faced in two decades.

I’m sure Watson is an excellent choice for the technical demands of the job. I’m less sure how many technical demands there are. The BA is a trade org, and the function of its president and chief executive is naturally more political than the jobs Watson has so competently done in the past. His opposite numbers at the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association had considerable experience operating in that milieu outside the brewing industry before taking up their current roles. Watson, like Pease before him, is a homegrown talent. In fairness, the latter learned on the job, earning recognition as one of The Hill’s top lobbyists every year since 2018. Not that that helps the former; to the extent that there was any low-hanging lobbying fruit for the craft-brewing industry, it’s already been plucked. Watson, a one-time political scientist, will be able to hit the ground running faster than a replacement from outside the BA, let alone the brewing business in toto, but whether he can deliver the confident strategic leadership craft brewers need in Washington, D.C. and statehouses across the country on a timeline that the degrowth and depressing headlines call for remains to be seen.

Yes, and: Watson is sharp, humble, and willing to try new things. In these tough conditions, I’d take a leader with a good attitude, skin in the game, and virtually unparalleled subject-matter expertise over a hired gun with a bigger trade-group toolkit. Seems like the BA’s board may have felt likewise.” —Dave Infante, VinePair columnist and contributing editor

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