2024 NanoCon Speakers
2024 NanoCon Online Speakers
Arshan Amiri, Esq. is a corporate and securities attorney with Amiri Law Firm PC, in San Diego, CA, where he works with startup and emerging companies as outside general counsel and advises on corporate and commercial transactions. The companies he represents cover a wide variety of industries, including tech, biotech, food & beverage and consumer products. Arshan has advised over two dozen craft breweries in connection with their investor financings.
Laura Burns, Ph.D is the Director of Research and Development at Omega Yeast. After studying stress responses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for her graduate thesis at Vanderbilt University, she decided the best place to apply this knowledge was in brewing. She worked in production brewing for five years as Head Brewer and Director of Quality Assurance before heading back to the bench at Omega Yeast. Her undeniable curiosity drives her to tackle difficult questions that brewer’s face daily.
Andrew Coplon, founder of “Secret Hopper” and “Craft Beer Professionals,” Andrew helps breweries nationwide create more memorable and profitable taproom experiences using data-based insights gathered from thousands of visits.
Audra Gaiziunas is the owner of Brewed For Her Ledger, LLC, a management consultancy firm focused on providing guidance to the craft alcohol community. She is currently serving as Crooked Stave’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to owning her own company, she served as Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s Controller (2009-2010) and Mother Earth Brewing’s Chief Financial Officer (2011-2014). She has been working exclusively in craft beer for 14+ years and joined the Brewers Association’s Finance Committee in January 2020. A graduate of the Kenan-Flagler One MBA program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Audra possesses 20+ years experience in senior leadership roles in craft brewing, manufacturing, services, non-profits, and startups. She earned her undergraduate degree in accounting and business management (double major) from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa in 1997.
Owen Woods has over 13 years of experience in the brewery industry. He spent 10 years as a brewer, responsible for beer production, fermentation, and packaging – utilizing and maintaining a variety of brewery equipment along the way. Owen is now a Sales Consultant for ABS Commercial, where he applies his knowledge of brewery equipment to help new and existing breweries with their unique equipment needs.
John Holl For nearly 20 years John has been covering the beer industry as a reporter and editor. In addition to writing several books, including the recently published The Craft Brewery Cookbook, he hosts several podcasts, notably BYO’s Nano Brew Podcast. John will moderate the “NANO BREWERY TRENDS PANEL”.
Ashton Lewis is the technical support and training manager for Brewers Supply Group and the technical editor of Brew Your Own Magazine. Prior to working in the world of ingredients, Lewis was the Staff Master Brewer and Brewing Group Sales Manager for the Paul Mueller Company. Ashton is a be
Matthew McLaughlin is the Founder of McLaughlin, PC. and also the Founder and CEO of Fertile Ground Beer Co. in Jackson, Mississippi. Matthew specializes in legal representation for craft breweries and distilleries.
Candace L. Moon is a San Diego-based attorney who has spent the last fourteen years dedicating her law practice to the craft beer industry. During the course of her career, she has worked with over 500 craft breweries and craft breweries-in-planning nationwide, handling many different legal areas including business entity formation, alcoholic beverage law, contract review and trademark law. Today, she has minimized her client list to focus more in-depth on a small number of California breweries. Ms. Moon’s undergraduate degree is from the University of Virginia and she attended the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. She has been a member of the California State Bar since 2008 and the Brewer’s Association since 2009.
Steve Parkes is a leading industry figure with a national and international reputation. He holds a degree in Brewing Science from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and has brewed professionally continuously since graduating in 1982. He started the first microbrewery in Maryland back in 1988 and has been a regular speaker at the National Craft Brewers Conference and National Brewpub Conference stage. Steve is a Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup judge and has hosted the Institute of Brewing Studies “Ask the Expert” Q & A forum. Steve is also the President and Lead Instructor of the American Brewers Guild and Founder & Brewmaster of Drop In Brewing, both based in Middlebury, Vermont.
Julie Rhodes With over 2 decades of experience in the food and beverage industry, Julie Rhodes is an expert in off-site beverage sales, digital marketing, leadership, team management, and distributor partnership management. She is the owner of Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions, an educational services and strategic business consulting company built specifically for small to medium-sized craft beverage companies where she teaches owners and operators how to work smarter, not harder. She is also a freelance business journalist and active public speaker, belonging to multiple state brewery guilds and cider trade associations. She was the Mentor of the Year for the Brewers Association in 2022, sits on the BA DEI Marketing and Communications Subcommittee and teaches Digital Marketing certificate programs for the University of Vermont.
Kary Shumway is Publisher of Craft Brewery Finance, and CFO of Wormtown Brewery in Massachusetts. He spent the last 20 years using finance to help improve financial results in our businesses and Kary now helps breweries, beer wholesalers, and cideries to do the same. His financial training programs have been developed on a new learning platform in order to deliver the best experience available and are designed specifically for non-financial people who have the responsibility of either managing or contributing to the success of business.
