Elise Horwitz is a Sr. Brand Manager at Stone Distributing Company, now among the largest independent distributors of craft-only beverages in the country. She started with Stone in 2016 after moving to San Diego from Orange County where she was previously an Event Planner and Coordinator with The Bruery.

In her current role, she manages 42 craft suppliers and assists them with strategies for sales growth. Elise creates and implements processes with the sales team, works cross functionally with all sides of distribution to ensure a smooth path to market for her supplier brands. She started her career in Event Planning and Coordinating, Restaurant Management, and ran a successful Craft Beer and Cocktail Program at well known bars and restaurants in Southern California.

Heather Collins has been in the food and beverage industry since 2006. Over the course of her 15-year tenure, she has worked for three distributors and two suppliers (including Stone Brewing). Heather joined Stone Distributing in 2015 as Area Sales Manager in San Diego and was promoted to District Sales Manager for San Diego and Inland Empire in 2020, managing three sales teams for Broad Market and on-premise.

Abby Niessink has been in the distribution industry for just over 15 months. Her previous experience includes accounting and operations in the financial services sector and financial analysis in a few other industries. She came on as a Sales Analyst for Stone Distributing in 2020 and her days include evaluating and identifying trends in sales, conducting forecasting, assisting the sales team in their data needs and creating tools to support the team sell!

Lianne Fitzgerald has been in the beverage industry since 2010.  Lianne worked for Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits for 7 years before she joined Team Stone in 2017.  She is the Sr. National Account Manager for Southern California calling on National off-premise chains and manages the local Key Account Team for Stone Brewing and Stone Distributing. 

Julie Kinch is a business leader with extensive experience in the alcohol beverage industry. She is the former SVP, CLO (Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer) for Heineken USA.  She was their first female SVP and management team member and was part of the strategic and operational management of the company which has grown to over $1.5B in revenue. Julie has represented companies in various industry trade organizations and has helped shape category narratives within the legal and alcohol beverage space. 

During her 20 years with Heineken, Julie was an advocate for diversity and founded the Heineken Women’s Leadership Forum to drive the inclusion and advancement of women in the workplace. Kinch’s passion has had a lasting impact: as of 2019, 50% of Heineken USA’s employees are women and 48% of its senior leaders are women.

Her work won recognition from business and industry groups, including Westchester County’s “Women in Business” award in 2014 and “Equal Access to Justice” honoree in 2019. She is a regular speaker at industry, university and women’s conferences and has written for Fortune.

As the Founder and CEO of JK Leadership Advisors, Julie continues her commitment to diversity and women’s leadership by advising companies looking to operationalize inclusion and diversity, to evolve their company cultures through empowering and engaging employees and to accelerate growth.

Prior to joining Heineken, Julie was Vice President, General Counsel for Remy Amerique, Inc. and before that, was with the law firm, White & Case. Julie is a former member of the Board of Directors for LIFT, a charity that provides access to justice for children and families in New York City, and she was on the initial Advisory Council for the Women’s Leadership Institute at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York.

Julie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Georgetown University and a JD from Boston College Law School. She currently lives in Larchmont, New York with her husband and family.