Great Lakes Brewing Co. (GLBC) CEO Mark King has stepped down from the top position at the Cleveland, Ohio-based craft brewery, effective April 24, the company announced today.
King, whose resume includes two decades at Anheuser-Busch InBev, stints at Beam Suntory, Gambrinus and BeatBox, and the founding of Texas-based cidery Austin Eastciders, joined Great Lakes in 2019. He was “integral to the company’s success” through the COVID-19 pandemic “and beyond,” as well as the “stabilization” of Great Lakes’ core portfolio, according to a press release.
King’s predecessor, Bill Boor, was GLBC’s first CEO and held the position for nearly four years before departing in an “unanticipated, but amicable” split.
With King’s departure, GLBC chief commercial officer (CCO) Chris Brown and chief operations officer (COO) Steven Pauwels have been appointed interim co-CEOs, effective immediately. The joint position will combine “Brown’s sales, marketing and stakeholder expertise with Pauwels’ operational, quality control and workforce proficiencies,” according to the release.
“Since our inception, we’ve operated with the two of us steering the ship, so having another two at the helm feels natural,” Patrick Conway, who co-founded GLBC with his brother Daniel in 1988, said in the release.
Brown joined GLBC in August 2020 as VP of sales, and was promoted to CCO in February. Before GLBC, he spent more than 15 years at Georgia-based United Distributors in various leadership roles, followed by two years as executive VP of sales and marketing at Atlanta-based Scofflaw Brewing.
Pauwels joined GLBC as COO in April 2022. He previously spent more than two decades as the brewmaster at Kansas City, Missouri-headquartered Boulevard Brewing. He has since been “instrumental in GLBC’s quality improvements, elevated operational processes and product innovation successes,” according to the release.
“We have a unique opportunity with two leaders who complement each other’s skill sets, so we intend to see where this new chapter takes us with Brown and Pauwels both at the helm,” GLBC marketing director Kami Purdue told Brewbound via email. “That said, interim tags will remain for the 2024 calendar year and be re-evaluated in 2025.”
Purdue noted that King “did not share his next endeavor,” but that the company is wishing him “all the best regardless.”
“This industry is always changing and evolving, and new opportunities arise daily, so it just happens that it’s GLBC’s turn to experience and embrace this latest change,” Purdue added.
Thirty-six years after GLBC’s founding, Patrick and Daniel Conway remain the majority owners of the craft brewery. The company also has an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), which holds a minority ownership.
Great Lakes was the eighteenth largest Brewers Association-defined craft brewery in 2023, maintaining its rank year-over-year (YoY). In 2022 – the last year individual production data is available from the BA – Great Lakes produced 120,057 barrels of beer, a -6% decline YoY. The company was also the fourth largest craft brewery in the North Central Region, according to the May/June 2023 issue of the BA’s New Brewer Magazine.
In 2023, GLBC’s dollar sales and volume both declined single-digits in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels (total U.S. xAOC + liquor plus + convenience): -4.6% and -5.8%, respectively. However, trends have improved in 2024, with dollar sales increasing +0.9% and volume decline -1.6% in the 13-week period ending April 20. The company added in today’s press release that placements (+5.2%) and depletions (+4.5%) are also up through the first four months of 2024.