Rogue Ales & Spirits has hired Jim Schembre, the former Monarch Beverage and World Class Beer general manager, as its new vice president of sales.
Schembre, who has served on Rogue’s Board of Directors for the last eight years, will immediately replace outgoing Rogue VP Steve Irwin.
“Throughout the majority of my adult life, I have been in the Wholesale beer business,” Schembre wrote in a statement. “It is with mixed emotions that after an incredible journey, I look to other opportunities that will help foster my passion for the craft beer industry, and continue to provide personal and professional growth.”
In the statement, Schembre said the recent passing of Rogue’s founder, Jack Joyce, caused him to reflect on his career and re-evaluate his future as a beer industry professional.
In his new role, Schembre will be responsible for working with Rogue’s distributors to “grow the brand and grow the business,” said company president Brett Joyce. That means reversing Rogue’s declining sales, which dipped 8 percent in 2013, according to Brewers Association records.
“I am excited about the expertise and experience he brings,” Joyce told Brewbound. “He is someone that I respect and trust and it will be nice to have that kind of wisdom coming into the role.”
Despite last year’s decrease in sales, which were pegged at 104,000 barrels, Joyce told Brewbound that he anticipates a “record year, in terms of both production and revenue,” in 2014.
“We should be somewhere in the 115,000 — 120,000 range,” he said.
Rogue, which is based in Newport, Ore., currently produces a variety of beers, spirits, and sodas and is beginning to test a line of ciders. The company also owns multiple farms — which it uses to grow some of the ingredients used in its products — and operates 11 “meeting hall” pubs in Oregon, Washington and California.