Bill Shufelt is the co-founder of Athletic Brewing, a pioneer in revolutionizing non-alcoholic craft beer. An outdoor enthusiast, ultra trail runner, and beer lover, he left a 12-year career in finance to build the first brewing facility & tap room in the nation dedicated entirely to non-alcoholic beer. Bill and Athletic co-founder John Walker set out to have a positive impact on tens of millions of Americans through health, activity, and community. They are firm believers you shouldn't have to sacrifice being at your best to enjoy great beer.

Firestone Walker co-founder David Walker is originally from Devon, a county in southwest England. He relocated to the West Coast in 1991, and established the brewery in Los Olivos, California with his brother-in-law Adam Firestone a few years after that. The company relocated Paso Robles in 2001. Walker makes regular trips home to see his family and check on his beer, which, along with 20 U.S. states, is distributed in the UK.

With 16+ plus years in the grocery retail landscape, including over a decade of emphasis on category management in an industry-leading chain retailer for adult beverage, Mary Guiver’s dynamic background at Whole Foods Market Inc provides a unique blend of retail insights. As the Principle Global Category Merchant for Beer & Spirits she continues to grow the WFM program through commitment to artisanal, local and innovative products, alongside a steadfast focus on quality standards and consumer demands. With a keen eye for industry trends and a collaborative approach to chain retail, Mary is able to elaborate on the inner strategies and continued evolution of one of the top chain retailers in the market.

Sinead Carey is the Director of Sales for Specialty Beer & Beverage at Wine Warehouse. She joined Wine Warehouse in 2016 in a leadership role that includes overseeing a team of craft beer specialists, working with supplier partners on planning, market execution, and collaborating with Wine Warehouse Sales Teams to drive performance behind the beer category. With over 18 years of successful experience working in the beer industry, Sinead has held roles in sales, distributor management, channel management, and trade marketing with Star Brand Imports, Heineken USA and Anchor Brewing. She is an Irish native and a graduate of Trinity College Dublin. She is Cicerone Certified Beer Server and lists lagers and hazy IPAs as her favorite styles of beer.

Mike LaVitola is the co-founder and CEO of Foxtrot – a contemporary evolution of the corner store and café. Foxtrot’s spaces offer all the most-loved aspects of neighborhood cafes, and you can call on the app for the best local beer, fine wines, curated gifts and everyday essentials, delivered from our store to your door in under an hour. Foxtrot is a digitally native, venture-backed business building a brand that marries the best of neighborhood retail and e-commerce technology. Mike began his career working in investment banking in Austin, Texas, focusing on large-scale, Public Private Partnership infrastructure transactions. He then joined a middle market private equity firm in Chicago before attending the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he launched Foxtrot in 2013.

Most recently, JB has been a consultant and dealmaker in the craft beer space and has led many high-profile craft transactions including Devil’s Backbone, 10 Barrel, Four Peaks, Breckenridge, Saint Archer, Hop Valley, Revolver, Terrapin, Boulevard, Firestone Walker, 21A/Funkwerks and Brooklyn Brewery. JB lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife Angela and two boys, Sawyer and Max. He is an avid fly fisherman, hunter, climber and writer.

Danny Brager has a wealth of experience in the Beverage Alcohol industry, seeing many trends come and stay, but others come and then die. He is the former Senior Vice President of Nielsen’s Beverage Alcohol Practice Area in the United States, where for close to 20 years he led teams that supported relationships with Nielsen’s many Beer, Wine, and Spirits clients (suppliers, importers, distributors, and retailers) as well as with key industry groups and the media. In that role, Danny succinctly provided data driven analysis and insights, focused on the U.S. retail environment and consumer/shopper – who they are, what they buy, and why - and what to expect looking ahead. In September 2020, Danny introduced Brager Beverage Alcohol Consulting, providing analysis services to beverage alcohol companies seeking to translate market data into authoritative, fact-based insights in support of their brand and corporate goals. Every year, he presents at large numbers of industry and individual company events, and is a frequent thought leader contributor to the media/press. His informed opinions are respected by beverage alcohol producers, importers, distributors, retailers, and financiers. Danny was born in Calgary, Alberta and moved to Toronto where he graduated from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto with an Honors Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. He relocated to Mission Viejo, California in 1993 where he now resides.

Wyatt Carder began his beverage career at Catch Hospitality Group in 2011 as a beverage buyer, sommelier, and manager. During this time, Wyatt launched the first wine-based cocktail in a can in North America, Pampelonne. Achieving 115% year-over-year growth rate for four years, Pampelonne became the number one selling wine in a can and number one wine cocktail in the Northeast according to Nielsen reporting. Pampelonne Rosé Lime remains the highest velocity wine-based cocktail per point of distribution of any brand nationwide. Wyatt sold the assets of Pampelonne in Spring of 2020. As a first mover, Wyatt had the foresight to identify some of the most pervasive trends in the alcohol industry and take early action. Pampelonne was created ahead of the ready-to-drink canned cocktails surge; ahead of the ‘better for you’ ready-to-drink beverage alcohol curve; and ahead of the wine in a can trend.

Laura Markstein has been President of Markstein Sales Company since 2001 and has led the 102-year-old company in its continued growth and success in the East Bay of California. Laura’s commitment to her customers, employees and community is evident in the multiple awards received and organizations in which she has served. From working to pass needed legislation protecting business rights to providing a work environment recognized as leading the way in employee satisfaction and wellness, Laura is proving that women leaders in the beverage distribution industry may be few in number, but big in impact.

Lindsay is a generational expert. With over ten years of experience in consumer and audience research, she specializes in bringing together diverse quantitative and qualitative data sets to tell the story of populations, both in the US and globally. Throughout her career, Lindsay has worked with a wide range of businesses across industries to build strategy to better communicate with, market to and innovate for key stakeholder groups. Using research, she helps businesses better understand their target audiences and decode societal trends to build a future-proof communications strategy. She has helped beverage alcohol companies answer questions such as, what societal trends will shape the next wave of beverage preferences? What is the future of community and personal connections? What attitudes define a craft beer drinker? Prior to joining FTI, Lindsay served as the Head of Youth Consulting at Kantar where she uncovered leading-edge insights about Gen Z and Millennials. She was also a 2016 presenter at both Brewbound and the Craft Brewers Conference.

Peter Rose is a Senior Partner in Kantar’s Consulting Practice. He is the head of Consulting’s Syndicated Business, which includes the design, delivery, and consultation associated with the firm’s U.S., Global, Canada, and Sports MONITOR studies. Pete consults with clients in a wide variety of industries on the implications of the U.S. MONITOR®, the foremost study of U.S. consumer lifestyles and attitudes. Originally with the firm (née Yankelovich) from 1989 to 1994, Pete returned to the business in the fall of 2003. He personally manages client relationships in financial services, media and entertainment, food and beverages, grocery and other retail, travel and leisure, and consumer packaged goods. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of American generations and has been quoted in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Los Angeles Times to Parents Magazine. Pete’s consulting career includes seven years at Towers Perrin, a leading HR consulting firm. He specialized in customer and employee research and organization effectiveness, identifying the linkages between employee engagement and business results. He also has extensive experience in project management and client facilitation. Pete earned a B.A. in history from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Debbie and their three children.

Justin Kendall provides daily coverage of the beer industry on Brewbound.com, conducts live-streamed interviews during Brewbound's events and co-produces the Brewbound podcast. Kendall is a 17-year career journalist who led alt-weekly newspapers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa.

Laura Markstein has been President of Markstein Sales Company since 2001 and has led the 102-year-old company in its continued growth and success in the East Bay of California. Laura’s commitment to her customers, employees and community is evident in the multiple awards received and organizations in which she has served. From working to pass needed legislation protecting business rights to providing a work environment recognized as leading the way in employee satisfaction and wellness, Laura is proving that women leaders in the beverage distribution industry may be few in number, but big in impact.