We now know who will lead the next chapter of New Belgium Brewing.
Chief marketing officer Shaun Belongie has been named the next CEO of New Belgium, effective immediately, taking the spot left vacant by Steve Fechheimer earlier this year.
Fechheimer’s planned departure was announced in June, with his last day on July 21. He spent more than six years at the Fort Collins, Colorado-based craft brewery, overseeing the company’s acquisition by Kirin-owned Lion Little World Beverages.
New Belgium is now the name for Lion’s full U.S. business, including the Colorado brewery itself, Michigan-based Bell’s Brewery and Kansas-based Distinguished Vineyards, a company spokesperson told Brewbound.
Following Fechheimer’s departure, Lion conducted an “extensive search and interview process” for his replacement, assessing both internal and external candidates, according to a press release.
“We are delighted to welcome Shaun as the next CEO of New Belgium,” Lion Group CEO Sam Fischer said in the release. “Shaun’s breadth of experience, innovative mindset, commercial acumen and great love of the New Belgium culture and coworkers makes Shaun an excellent fit to lead the team.”
Fischer also thanked interim CEO Danielle McLarnon “for her exceptional leadership.” McLarnon will return to her role as chief financial officer.
Belongie has served as New Belgium CMO for the past five years, helping the company build its Voodoo Ranger brand, including tripling brand sales from three to nine million cases over three years, and launching Voodoo Ranger Juice Force, the biggest innovation by dollar sales in craft beer history, according to the release.
“To some degree this appointment is really a vote of confidence from Lion, our parent company, that we have this great leadership team in place,” Belongie told Brewbound. “And that leadership team has really talked about this idea of where we need to go. It’s taking where we are today – which is obviously pushing the bounds of what craft beer was – and then thinking about what that new future is going to look like.”
New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan remains a part of the company in an advisory role, and will continue to be a resource for Belongie in his role as CEO.
“She’s a great resource for us to talk at a high level and big picture, but she will tell you very directly, ‘I do not want to be in the day-to-day functioning of the business,’” Belongie said.
“In the conversations I just had with her last week, it was like, ‘You’re gonna take and figure out where our business practices go, you are so much better equipped now, because you’re in the day-to-day to know what’s going to make sense,’” he continued.
In his new role, Belongie will also be responsible for helping lead Bell’s Brewery, alongside Bell’s EVP Carrie Yunker.
Bell’s was acquired by Lion in late 2021, and began aligning its resources and distribution with New Belgium over the next year. While there was a “transition period” to “work some kinks out,” the two companies are now aligned.
As CEO, Belongie’s focus will be on “continuing to drive the momentum behind the things that are working,” a large chunk of that being New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger brand. However, there is also “some positive momentum on the Bell’s side,” Belongie said.
Bell’s has spent the last year line-extending some of its core beers, including Two Hearted IPA, which is now showing growth year-to-date – something “we’re not seeing from a lot of legacy brands,” Belongie said. Bell’s launched Hazy Hearted IPA, a 7.5% ABV extension, in January. The brand is a top five craft launch nationally, despite only being available in fewer than 10, Belongie said.
This fall, Bell’s launched Oberon Eclipse, a fall/winter version of its popular summer seasonal Oberon. The brand is a top 15 growth brand, Belongie said.
“Voodoo Ranger is the obvious thing that’s working, but there’s a lot in the Bell’s portfolio that’s really started to work now as we’ve doubled down behind these iconic brands that really drive the Bell’s portfolio,” Belongie said.
Bell’s plans to continue with its core beer strategy in 2023, adding Big Hearted, a 9.5% double IPA, in January. Like Hazy Hearted, the new beer will first launch in select markets in 12 oz. can 6-packs and 19.2 oz. single-serve cans.
New Belgium will continue its innovation approach in 2024 with Tropic Force, the third addition to its Force lineup. The 9.5% ABV brew will launch nationally in 12 oz. can 6-packs and 19.2 oz. single-serve cans.
“We’re tremendously excited about that beer itself, I can’t wait for people to try it,” Belongie said. “It’s absolutely incredible. We wouldn’t continue to line extend this thing if we didn’t think we could actually add something new for people to try.”
New Belgium will also expand the footprint of Voodoo Ranger Hardcharged Tea nationally in 2024. The 7% ABV hard tea brand launched in six markets this summer – Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas – and it will be a “huge bet” for New Belgium next year. The company is investing $10 million in market spend for the brand, New Belgium’s biggest investment ever for a new brand, Belongie said.
Overall, New Belgium’s innovation plan is an attempt at “bridging the future” with innovation that “take us from where craft is today, to where craft is going,” Belongie said.
“Obviously, Juice Force is big, the Force line is essentially a big part of that bridge, where we’ve pulled some elements of FMB and more flavor from that space into craft in a way that wasn’t really there before,” Belongie said.
“We’re also looking at are there ways to do that – we’re bringing new things to craft that haven’t been seen before – but also, are there new categories that a craft brewery can play in,” he continued.
Belongie joined New Belgium in 2018 as VP of marketing. He was promoted to CMO in February 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before entering the craft beer industry, Belongie held brand management roles at Kraft Foods and Nestlé Purina North America.
Year-to-date through October 8, dollar sales of the New Belgium portfolio have increased +18.6%, to $483.7 million, at off-premise retailers tracked by Circana. It is the eighth largest beer category vendor at Circana-tracked multi-outlet grocery and convenience stores.