Last week, Sierra Nevada announced the promotion of VP of sales Ellie Preslar to chief commercial officer (CCO) of the California-based craft brewery. Brewbound caught up with Preslar after the news broke to learn about her responsibilities in the new role, what Sierra Nevada is prioritizing ahead of the summer selling season and how things are going at the company’s newly commissioned CanDo co-packing facility. Here are a few highlights from the Q&A: Brewbound: What will you be focused on in your new role as CCO? Preslar: My first priority is to continue to grow and strengthen the Sierra Nevada brand and get our beer into more consumers hands at the end of the day, and more drinkers hands. Being able to do that, while working across both sales and marketing – in addition to the responsibility I had just on sales – is really exciting, because those two things really work together to amplify that. The additional piece will be working and leading the business development part of our collaboration and [CanDo] co-packing facility that we are just getting going on and finishing commissioning and work on. Brewbound: Sierra Nevada is not done with leadership changes. You are also on the hunt for a chief brand director, as Kyle Ingram transitions to director of insights and innovation. What are you looking for from somebody to fill that role? Preslar: Kyle's an amazing leader for us, and as we continue to chart our path forward, we wanted to really free up his capacity to be focused on driving insights and innovation and focused on that plank of growth for our business. With that, we separated out the brand director role, and we're really excited about the talent that's coming through the pipeline as we recruit for that role. And I hope in the next month or two, we'll be excited to share that hire. (Preslar also noted that the company is looking both internally and externally to fill the role). Brewbound: What is it like balancing the new co-packing facility and prioritizing the craft legacy of Sierra, especially with new products and new spaces that are new to everybody in the industry? Preslar: That's the beauty of that [CanDo] facility as it comes online, as it allows us to learn in new segments, while still being primarily focused on what we do best, which is brewing beer. We are brewers at the heart, and I think we're the best brewers in the world, so we're not losing that. Through this new facility, we get to try new things. And we can try those things ourselves, but we also get to learn about them through others and through the partners that we're exploring and through that facility. Insiders can read the full Q&A, including Preslar’s comments on Sierra Nevada’s innovation priorities, how consumers are responding to the brewery’s non-alcoholic offerings and why the company chose to fill the CCO position, after initially planning otherwise. | 
