B.R. Distilling Company, parent company of the award-winning Blue Note Bourbon, has appointed Christopher (Chris) Crosbie as its new Vice President of National Sales. In this role, Chris will develop and deliver the company’s annual operating plan for all regions designed to build national brand awareness, education, and sales for Blue Note whiskey. He will also lead financial and operational management, provide strategic direction and oversight of profitability and distributor strategy, and oversee marketing and sales plans for trade channels, field execution, team performance, and talent development and recruitment. Chris will report directly to Logan Welk, President and Chief Operating Officer of B.R. Distilling Company.
With both sales and distilled spirits expertise, Chris most recently served as Director of Sales & Trade Marketing East USA, Canada, LATAM & Duty Free for Altos Planos Collective, based in New York. Prior to that, he spent 16 years with Diageo, most recently as Vice President, Commercial, where he led the planning and execution of the spirits and beer portfolio across many markets. He also served as the Acting General Manager for the Caribbean and Central America region.
“With his deep industry and leadership experience, Chris possesses all the qualities to effectively lead our sales team and help to expand the Blue Note brand footprint in the U.S.,” said Logan Welk, President and Chief Operating Officer. “In a few short years, Blue Note has caught the attention of whiskey lovers and experts alike. For example, our flagship Juke Joint and Crossroads expressions were both awarded Double Gold medals at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competitions for the last two years. We’re excited and ready to capitalize on this momentum.”
Chris studied Business Administration at Edinburgh’s Telford College and is currently working towards a BA in History in his spare time. A native of Edinburgh, Scotland, he lives in the New York Metro area.
Gregg Smith has been appointed as the new Chief Financial Officer. Gregg brings more than 30 years of experience in financial and business development leadership for organizations in telecom, healthcare, software, logistics, services, and beverage manufacturing industries. His specialties include finance and operations process development, mergers and acquisitions, financial analysis, acquisition integration, strategic planning, raising capital, international operations, problem solving, IT strategy, sales, and business development.
In this new role, Gregg will be responsible for B.R. Distilling Co’s financial planning and analysis, external reporting, banking relationships, and internal controls. He will also have oversight of Human Resources, help to raise capital, and build relationships with key partners, investors, and vendors. Gregg will report directly to Logan Welk, President, and Chief Operating Officer of B.R. Distilling Company.
”Gregg is an accomplished CFO whose expertise makes him an invaluable asset to our team,” said Welk. “Earlier this year, B.R. Distilling closed a multimillion-dollar financing round from existing shareholders. Gregg’s leadership and insights will be invaluable as we focus on generating distribution and depletions for Blue Note bourbon within our current U.S. markets as well as later this year when raise a larger growth capital round of equity financing. I’m thrilled to welcome Gregg to our team.”
Gregg’s experiences include working with family-owned, family-office, publicly traded, and private equity/venture capital backed companies. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of AMH Industrial, where he led the rebuilding and integration of a 30-year-old family business. Prior to that, he was Chief Financial Officer at Envoy Source, where he initiated organizational changes that turned the company around and generated a positive ROI for investors. He was also CFO at Wiseacre Brewing Company, where he helped raise debt and equity financing to build a new production facility and taproom in downtown Memphis, restructured the finance and logistics areas to be more efficient, and assisted sales with market-focused analysis to determine profitability of markets and distributors.
Gregg earned a BA in Accounting and a master’s degree in International Accounting from the University of Mississippi. A native of Northeast Arkansas, he currently resides in Memphis with his wife and two children.
