Management, Equity Partners & Personnel

Tom Potter, Co-Founder, President.

Potter co-founded The Brooklyn Brewery in 1987. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, guiding the company to $20 million in annual sales, until selling his voting shares and retiring in 2004. Potter has been profiled in Fortune, Forbes, Inc., The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others. The Brooklyn Brewery remains the largest craft brewery in the New York region and is among the most honored craft breweries in the world. Every investor in the Brooklyn Brewery during his tenure earned a positive return. In addition to its well-known brewing operations, The Brooklyn Brewery under Potter also created one of the largest specialty beer distributors in the U.S., with operations in New York and Massachusetts.

Potter graduated from Yale in 1978 with a BA (cum laude), where he was a residential college Council President and Social Chairman; and from Columbia Business School with an MBA in marketing and finance (Honors) in 1983. Before starting The Brooklyn Brewery he was an Assistant Vice President at Chemical Bank, where as a loan officer he financed the acquisition of assets valued in excess of $1.5 billion. No loan sponsored by Potter was ever in material default. He served as Executive Director of the American Institute of Wine & Food, a national membership organization founded by Robert
Mondavi and Julia Child, from February 2006 though January 2008. He is currently Chairman of the AIWF Foundation and is co-author of the book “Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery” (foreword by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg; John Wiley & Sons).

Allen Katz, Co-Founder, Vice-President – Product Development and Brand Ambassador.

Katz is one of the nation’s leading experts on distilled spirits and cocktails. He is currently the Director of Spirits Education and Mixology for Southern Wine & Spirits of New York, the state’s largest distributor of wine and spirits and is at the forefront of industry training in New York and around country. He is known and respected in every corner of the cocktail world, from leading bartenders, independent and multi-unit operators, journalists and industry advocates, for his authenticity and commitment to exacting quality and professionalism. Through this work and reputation he has close ties to food and beverage consultants and distributors in the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Over the last ten years Katz has worked as an advisor and consultant with domestic and international distillers of whiskey, gin, genever, vodka,
rum, pisco, cognac, vermouth and liqueurs on topics from product development and implementation to industry outreach, marketing and business strategy. He has worked with and continues to have relationships with every bourbon distiller in Kentucky and has studied under several Master Distillers there. He is the host of The Cocktail Hour, a weekly program on Martha Stewart’s Sirius Satellite Radio, broadcast live to an audience across North America and the Caribbean. He is renowned for his public and professional seminars on topics of America’s food and cocktail heritage and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Slow Food U.S.A., the largest and one of the most influential food and agriculture groups in the country.

Bill Potter, Co-Founder, Tasting Room Manager, Apprentice Distiller.

Bill Potter graduated from Packer Collegiate Institute in 1999 and Macalester College in 2003. He is currently a server at The Tribeca Grill, the famed downtown Manhattan restaurant. He was previously a server with the Union Square Hospitality Group, working at Blue Smoke (the NY Times 2-star top rated barbecue restaurant) and Tabla (the NY Times 3- star top rated Indian restaurant). Bill has also been a certified level-2 snowboard instructor at Vail, Colorado.

Jason Grizzanti, Consulting Master Distiller.

Grizzanti, co-founder and director of operations at The Warwick Valley Winery and Distillery, is the most experienced artisan distiller in the New York region. He will assist in selecting and installing the equipment, will help formulate and test new products and will act as the Company’s primary consulting distiller until a full time master distiller is needed. Grizzanti has trained at both the Seibel Institute in Chicago and Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, two of the most respected centers for grain fermentation and distilling studies in the world.

Milton Glaser, Graphic Design.

Glaser is among the most honored and respected graphic designers in the world. He is a Fulbright scholar; co-founder of the legendary Pushpin Studios; and co-founder of New York Magazine. He has been honored with one-man shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Although much of his work is for the largest corporations in the world, he occasionally takes on more modest projects. He created the logo, package design and marketing materials for The Brooklyn Brewery. For NYDC, Glaser will create the corporate identity and initial brand designs.

Fradkin McAlpin, Architects.

Bennett Fradkin has practiced architecture in New York City since 1977. His professional focus has been on adaptive reuse, interior architecture and community planning, all integrating the best practices of sustainable design. Among
his many projects involving imaginative industrial uses was The Brooklyn Brewery, an award-winning design in the Williamsburg neighborhood. Fradkin will provide consulting and design services for the Company as it seeks New York City approval for its plans and then builds its distillery.

Bear Dallis Associates, Business Services and Event Management.

Bear Dallis Associates has a 20-year record of providing outstanding business support and event management supervision with a specialty in New York City’s food world. Founder Martha Bear Dallis has managed events ranging from intimate restaurant experiences to gigantic outdoor multi-day extravaganzas serving over 100,000 patrons. Bear Dallis will help the Company organize its grand opening and other press-worthy events.