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Women in Operations: Navigating the Opportunities in Today's World | Login or Join to view tickets | ||||
Join Women of the Vine & Spirits for a Live Chat:
Women in Operations:
Navigating the Opportunities in
Today's World
Wednesday, November 18
10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST
Kristeena Breeding
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Sherrie Moore
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Yvonne Sams
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Interviewed by
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The alcohol beverage industry is dynamic, diverse, and offers amazing career opportunities worth exploring. One of the most vital roles, but less often discussed, in the industry are those in operations. A winery, distillery, or brewery cannot function without these dedicated teams working tirelessly behind the scenes. They are often responsible for one or more areas, including purchasing, warehousing, manufacturing and/or transport and logistics. These positions are often held accountable for budgets, staffing, quality control, production timelines, order deadlines and a myriad of safety and disaster control procedures.
Hear from three inspiring women who have excelled in their field and want to encourage other women to consider a role in operations. Each panelist will share their story, their roles and responsibilities within their company, insights they have gained, and career opportunities one can explore within operations in our industry.
Sherrie Moore is a 33-year veteran of the Tennessee whiskey industry, having spent 31 of those years making her way through the ranks and holding several titles, including Director and Assistant Vice President, at one of the world’s most well-known whiskey giants. Following a brief retirement, Moore made the decision to return to the whiskey world, bringing her immense knowledge and experience of Tennessee whiskey to the Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey team in January 2017 as Director of Whiskey Operations, where she develops, leads, and oversees the creation of its award-winning whiskeys from start to finish.
Moore worked closely with the great-grandson of Nearest Green, Uncle Nearest’s namesake, at Jack Daniel’s Distillery for more than 25 years where she learned the footprint Nearest left on the whiskey industry. When she heard that co-founders Fawn and Keith Weaver were creating a whiskey brand to honor Green, she couldn't say no to the opportunity to be a part of the legacy. As Director of Whiskey and Distillery Operations, Moore wears several hats, including supervising the selection and dumping of barrels, as well as the whiskey maturation process. She also oversees the design and building of Uncle Nearest’s new distillery, barrel warehousing and bottling facility that will open in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Moore is a mother of three adult sons and a true Tennessean through and through, having lived and worked her entire life within a 30-mile radius of Shelbyville, TN, where she currently resides. She is the great-granddaughter of Miss Mary Bobo, founder of Lynchburg's famous boarding house, and the great-great niece of Lem Motlow, former owner of Jack Daniel’s. Moore holds a Bachelor of Science with an emphasis in Chemistry from Middle Tennessee State University.
Yvonne Sams has over 25 years working in supply chain, working in food manufacturing with companies like Frito Lay, Inc., E&J Gallo Winery and Tyson Foods. She also started up and ran food distribution warehouses. Now, she is responsible for one of the largest G3 line of businesses, Harvest Hauling, with over 50 employees working with wineries and growers on wine grape transportation. As the Sr. Director of CA Logistics, she also manages business development, customer and supplier relations and has full P&L responsibility for warehousing, transportation and distribution services managing over $100MM business.
She has been defined by a series of firsts. A first-generation college student from Watsonville, California, she attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo determined to pursue a path in engineering. She was also the first woman to major in agricultural engineering technology at the university. Despite naysayers who voiced concern that a woman would struggle in the then typically male-dominated major, Sams spent her college years learning to weld, mill, lathe, rebuild engines and trailers and mastered the technology behind complex agricultural systems – the only woman in each of her classes. She was determined to succeed and graduate with the degree that she set out to obtain, which she did.
In addition to her full-time job and a mother of three children, Sams serves as a board member for the United Way of Stanislaus County and as both an advisory board member for the Bio Resource and Agricultural Engineering Department and an alumni advisory board member representing the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences for her alma mater Cal Poly, SLO. She also spent 20 years giving back to her sorority Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity where she volunteered at the chapter, regional and international level with her last role serving as a Network Director.
Yvonne recently spoke at the Mendocino Winegrowers Economic Symposium, moderated the breakout session “The Changing Regulatory Landscape” at the 2019 Unified Wine and Grape Symposium and was a featured panelist for “Driving Deeper into the Future of Winegrape Trucking” at 2018’s CAWG Summer Conference.
In addition, she was the key note speaker for the Ag Ambassador 2020 CA State Convention “Expanding Your Horizon and Cal Poly’s 26 Hour program where the campus hosts under represented high school’s. Yvonne also lead the wine grape grower discussion on COVID guest speaking at CA Association of Wine Grape Growers, Lodi District Winegrape Growers, Sonoma Vintners Association, and Wine Institute.
Carlina Moait is the Director of Human Resources for Beam Suntory’s US Sales organization. Carlina’s 10-year HR career spans across an assortment of roles, functions, and companies, with one of her greatest motivators being able to see how people grow their careers and build out experiences and capabilities. Carlina brings this mindset, along with a combination of skills and experiences, to her everyday work, which covers Recruitment, Talent Management, Training and Development, Labor Relations, Organizational Culture, and HR Strategy.
Carlina joined Beam Suntory in April 2013 as a Talent Acquisition Specialist for Supply Chain, Operations, and R&D in Kentucky. In August 2015, she transitioned to support the company’s US and Global Marketing organization. From 2017 to today, Carlina has provided critical HR guidance to our US Sales team as the HR Business Partner. Carlina has a strong commitment to people and focuses on developing and retaining the best and brightest talent to deliver Beam Suntory’s strategic vision, now and in the future.
Prior to joining Beam Suntory, Carlina worked at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as a Human Resource Specialist and Manpower Group as a Staffing Specialist, where she helped identify talent for Manufacturing Companies in Michigan.
Carlina earned her Bachelors of Business Administration and Human Resource Management from Western Michigan University. Carlina was born in Sydney, Australia and now resides in Chicago, Illinois with her husband Brian and son Dylan (1). Carlina’s greatest passions are her family and travel, which is fueled by a deep love of experiencing different cultures, environments, and places.
Kristeena Breeding is a third-generation player in the logistics space who has long been called to the work of operations. Kristeena began her career at PharMerica where she worked as a Financial Analyst. Though the skills she developed in this role were beneficial, she desired to put them to the test. In 2015 she joined her family’s trucking operation, Roger’s Trucking.
During her tenure with the company her position continues to transform and grow. Kristeena currently works in contract procurement, customer relationship management, financial analysis, sales, and freight bidding. As a young woman in a male-dominated industry, Kristeena has certainly earned her spot at the table. Her innovative thinking and desire to push the envelope have ignited years of exponential growth within her company. In the last four years, Roger’s Trucking has tripled their number of employees and seen sales increase by 170%.
Kristeena has been an instrumental figure in pushing her company into the spirits industry and was a key negotiator in acquiring contracts with Brown Forman and Sazerac. Although new to the spirits industry, she continues to be excited by the growth seen in this market and hopes to become a major truckload carrier for other players in the alcoholic beverage industry.
While working in this industry can be demanding, Kristeena finds joy in continuing the legacy started by her grandparents and working with her family each day. As a woman, she is grateful for the strong female influences in her life which have taught her strength and confidence in the business realm.
Kristeena is an active member of the Kentucky Trucking Association, University of Louisville Family Business Center, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, and the NetxGen Roundtable. When able to take time away from work, Kristeena loves to spend time with her family and friends, serve with her church, and travel.
Kristeena holds a Bachelors degree in Financial Economics and History from Centre College and Masters of Business Administration from the University of Louisville.