Rethink Your Personal Brand Hosted by the Entrepreneurs | Women-Owned BRG

Shauna Barnes is the founder of Barnes Beverage Group, a law firm specializing in providing external General Counsel and regulatory counsel to beverage companies. The firm’s model is unique, in that it favors a flat fee or subscription model that better aligns clients' incentives and goals with that of their attorneys. Shauna has over a decade of experience counseling alcohol companies, specializing in creative distribution relationship management and risk-based advice in all aspects of the product life cycle. Shauna leads a team of former in-house attorneys and compliance specialists servicing clients across all alcoholic and non-alcoholic product types, including beer, wine, spirits, and beyond-beer. Their clients include nano, micro, and craft breweries, distillers, wineries and importers, as well as established publicly?traded companies. Before founding Barnes Beverage Group, Shauna founded the Alcohol & Beverage Practice at Kaleo Legal. Prior to that, she was General Counsel and a trusted member of the leadership team at Dogfish Head for nearly a decade. She found that position during her tenure as an attorney with McDermott Will & Emery focused on alcohol beverage clients and antitrust issues. She is a former Events Chair of the Rose Council of Wake Forest University School of Law and currently serves on the school's Law Board of Visitors. She regularly volunteers her time to the Delaware Brewer’s Guild, assisting the members with alcohol-related challenges and legislative efforts. Shauna earned a Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania State University as well as a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law. She has been admitted to practice law in North Carolina, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

"While ideas are the creative spark of innovation, action is what makes them a reality."

Leys Bostrom is the Director of SG Ventures for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the world’s preeminent distributor of beverage alcohol. In this role, she drives the optimization of growth and innovation across the company. SG Ventures aims to be a strategic investor accelerating the evolution of the Bev Alc and complementary industries and strives to optimize the core business, drive industry innovation, and stay ahead of the curve. Leys is a graduate of SGWS' EmpowHER Leadership Program. 

She joined Southern Glazer's after working at General Electric, one of the nation's largest Fortune 500 enterprises, to develop, activate, and scale GE's Innovation and Growth Operating System, FastWorks, across the company. In this role, she worked with some of the top thought leaders in the corporate innovation space and helped train thousands of GE employees in entrepreneurial ways of working that saved millions of dollars in costs and resources. Prior to that, Leys worked at EF, the world leader in international education, as the GM of a new vertical where she built a commercial team, redesigned a marketing and brand strategy, and leveraged data to successfully drive early growth for an innovative, new product launch. 

Leys is an entrepreneurial and global leader that leverages innovation strategies, data-backed insights and tools to transform organizations and accelerate growth. She studied women studies as an undergraduate and has worked with countless female entrepreneurs and advised various startups. She holds a MBA from Duke University - Fuqua School of Business and a Level 2 Award from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET II).

Cindy Haas is the Vice President of Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the world’s preeminent distributor of beverage alcohol. In this role, she manages the internal and external communications function and corporate social responsibility for the Company, including employee communications, public relations, social media, employee volunteering and giving, community relations, and management of the corporate website. Since joining Southern Glazer’s in 2016, Mrs. Haas has created the Company’s first corporate social media presence, launched its first enterprise-wide online volunteering and fundraising platform, and helped create Top Shelf PR, an internal public relations agency for supplier brands. Mrs. Haas is a graduate of Southern Glazer’s Women in Leadership program in partnership with Columbia Business School. She also serves on the Women of the Vine & Spirits Foundation Committee and Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America Communications Council.

Prior to joining Southern Glazer’s, Cindy served as Group Director, Corporate Communications and Community Relations for Ryder System, Inc., a leader in commercial transportation and supply chain management. In that role, she managed the global media relations and corporate social media team, and led the Company’s corporate sustainability communications and reporting efforts.

Cindy has nearly 30 years of professional communications experience working in both agency and in-house corporate environments, managing media relations and marketing communications, crisis and reputation management, social media, employee communications, C-suite executive visibility, and corporate social responsibility for some of the world’s most recognized brands. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Advertising from the University of Florida School of Journalism and Communications. Mrs. Haas has passed the Court of Master Sommelier Introductory Course and achieved the Level 2 Award from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust.