Tamarron Consulting offers the alcohol beverage industry a valuable alternative to generalized consulting. Tamarron is a management consulting firm specializing in the beer, wine, and spirits industry. Through our services, Tamarron Consulting is dedicated to improving the overall effectiveness of the three-tier distribution network, especially relationships between suppliers and distributors.
Our team is dedicated to confronting and overcoming the challenges through services and solutions that combine unmatched industry knowledge and experience with the most current general business practices. This combination of industry tradition and modern practices enables our customers and us to keep pace with the continual beverage industry evolution.
Lori is a founding member of Tamarron Consulting, working in every facet of Tamarron’s business over its 30+ year history. For many years, she has led Tamarron’s benchmark Malt Beverage Supplier Performance Survey (now the Brewer Partnership Compass), which captures distributors’ perceptions of key supplier performance in Leadership, Planning, Sales, Marketing, National & Chain Accounts, etc., and identifies opportunities for suppliers to improve performance and relationships with distributors. Lori has played an integral role with developing, measuring and improving sales, marketing & brand development capabilities for suppliers and distributors in the alcohol beverage industry. She has led due diligence efforts for mergers & acquisitions, planning and managing all aspects of due diligence projects, conducts business valuations and assists with mergers & acquisitions. Lori is also engaged with training brewers on 3-Tier evolution, distributor dynamics and how to be a better partner with distributors. In addition, Lori facilitates several key beer industry initiatives: Beer First Initiative (NBWA and distributors) aimed at elevating the beer category and expanding occasions for beer; Building Relationships and Empowering Women (BREW organization through NBWA); and Alliance for Women in Beer (three-tier organization for women in beer suppliers, distributors or retailers).
Lori has a BA in Economics and Management from Albion College and a MBA from Leeds School of Business at the University of CO. She is also a registered CPA. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, mountain sports, concerts and spending time with family and friends.
loris@tamconsulting.com
Bob has more than 30 years" experience in senior management, operations, accounting, finance and administration, primarily in the malt beverage distribution industry. He has served in senior management roles in malt beverage distributorships in major markets in California and Illinois. He specializes in assisting clients with structuring and negotiating merger and acquisition contracts, budgeting and financial performance analysis, financial decision-making and operations management. Additionally, he has extensive experience in the spirits industry through project work specifically directed at measuring distributor execution standards.
bobl@tamconsulting.com
Mike is a partner at Tamarron Consulting with over 22 years of experience in the alcohol beverage industry. He specializes in evaluating and enhancing supplier and distributor sales and marketing capabilities. Michael Mike has led the development, sales, and analysis of the Craft Brewer Performance Survey, fostering strong relationships with several prominent craft brewers. Additionally, he facilitates Tamarron’s Operations Leadership Council—a consortium of top malt beverage distributors dedicated to sharing best practices, integrating emerging technologies, and driving operational excellence across the industry. Mike holds both an MBA and an MSF from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, along with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Emory University. Outside of work, Michael Mike enjoys golfing, skiing, traveling, and spending quality time with his two children.
mikem@tamconsulting.com
Ruchi is a proven zero to one founder and brand builder. She is co-founder of EIGHT Brewing Co., a better-for-you light lager made with 100% organic grains. Ruchi has extensive experience scaling operations and teams at various e-commerce and fintech startups helping companies as they transition out of beta, launch products, stand up new production facilities, and rapidly grow their team. Most notably, she led the 10x capacity expansion of a growing D2C brand’s primary production factory, building a team of over 300 people, and was VP of Strategy & Senior Counsel at interface rehab, one of the largest private healthcare services providers in California with $100 million in annual revenue. Previously, Ruchi has worked as an attorney, focusing on intellectual property and corporate advisory, as well as a derivatives trader. An avid triathlete, she enjoys swimming in the ocean and riding her bike along the Pacific Coast Highway when not spending time with her husband, Dan, and pup, Rhubarb. Ruchi holds degrees from Wharton, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Law School, and the London School of Economics.
https://risingtide.vc/ ruchi@risingtide.vc
Dynamic Executive Leader with extensive experience in strategic marketing, brand planning, and building strong sales and marketing teams. Skilled in leading stakeholder teams and emphasizing trust through change management. Focused on problem-solving via process improvements and technology. Committed to transparent communication and leading professional teams through training and mentorship. Other areas of expertise include strategic planning & execution, training & mentorship, motivational team leadership, consultative sales solutions, B2B enterprise level sales, brand & portfolio management, etc. Lucinda’s beer experience began with Boston Beer in 2006, where she remained for 14 years concluding her tenure as Regional Sales Manager. She moved on to Andrews Distributing for 3 years covering the customer experience, category management & eCommerce. Throughout her career, Lucinda has consistently driven results by aligning strategic goals with retailer needs, implementing transformative solutions, and empowering teams to excel. Her expertise spans national account management, eCommerce transformation, and sales team development. Lucinda is also a graduate of the Stagen Integral Leadership Program.
https://www.lto.consulting/ Lucinda@LTO.Consulting
Mike is a recently semi-retired executive vice president and chief revenue officer for Andrews Distributing Company. In his position he was focused on collaboratively developing and leading growth strategies that generate and sustain sales and revenue growth company wide. With more than 38 years of leadership, he passionately supported serving others to pursue and achieve their full potential, which brought energetic meaning to every day. During his tenure he served his industry as an appointed member of NBWA’s Managerial Board and NBWA’s Board of Directors, WBDT Legislative Council, Boston Beer National Council, Tamarron Consulting and Leadership Council and numerous other national and local brewer councils. Mike was Chairman of the Heineken National Distributor Council. Following his semi- retirement from Andrews Distributing Company Mike started his coaching and leadership company, Barnes Leadership and Strategy Coaching / Mike Barnes Coaching where he has been a keynote speaker on servant leadership. He recently published a bestselling book on authentic servant leadership Hardwired to The Heart, while also writing weekly social media blogs on servant leadership. He is a certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Individual and Team Leadership Coach and currently coaching a Marshall Goldsmith senior leader. Mike is also a recent graduate of the Stagen Advanced Leadership Program and currently enrolled to attend the next level of advanced leadership training. He also holds a Certification as a Life Coach from the Life Coach institute.
www.MikeBarnesCoaching.com
3-Tier Beverages is a highly experienced team of BevAl industry experts who have access to off and on-premise data from Nielsen IQ and VIP. Tamarron works closely with 3-Tier for our data and analytics needs internally and with clients.
A new addition to Tamarron, Annie supports the entire team on projects with her analytics skills while learning about the beer industry. She is currently an MBA Candidate at Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. In her free time, Annie is always moving – she enjoys competitive CrossFit, mountain sports like backcountry skiing, climbing, and hiking, and photography.
anniew@tamconsulting.com
Bob Sullivan, Jr. represents the fourth generation of a family dedicated to the beer business. Beginning in 1978 as a driver-salesman for the Sullivan Beverage Company, Bob moved on to become Regional Sales Manager for Moctezuma Imports, and then Division Manager for Wisdom Imports, both wholly-owned subsidiaries of FEMSA. Bob later joined Boulevard Brewing Company as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Under his sales and marketing leadership, Boulevard grew to be the largest specialty brewer in the Midwest. Bob also served as Vice President of New Product Development for Andrews Distributing in Dallas, Texas. Bob is currently the founder and president of Sullivan Sales & Marketing Solutions a firm dedicated in working with companies across all three tiers of the alcoholic beverage industry.
Bob currently lives in Kansas City with his wife Sally, where they are dedicated in spending time with their daughters, grandchildren, and their horses, dogs, and cats. He is the co-author (with James Maxwell) of the ward winning Hometown Beer, a history of brewing in the Kansas City area; and author of Camp Coffee: Tales of a Wyoming Cowboy which in 2007 received a Gold Medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards.
Rick Wright is a long tenured veteran of the beer business. He started his beer career as Sales Director with Star Distributing, CT. He moved from the distributor tier to the supplier tier when he joined Latrobe Brewing Company, subsequently acquired by Labatt USA, Canada, where he held a variety of roles during a 15-year span, including Vice President, Planning/Development, NE Regional Vice President & Vice President of Sales. Rick moved on to Heineken USA as Director, Planning & Network Development where he was responsible for strategic network planning, change management and distributor sales training & development. Wright"s final position with HUSA was as Vice President, Distributor Network Development, responsible for leading the Network Group on distribution channel strategy, long term vision, distributor buy/sell transactions and management of the HUSA"s National Distributor Council.
Rick holds a Masters in Applied Project Management from Villanova University and an Executive Brewing Certification from The Sieble Institute of Technology. Rick and his wife Linda of 38 years have two daughters, both educators, and four beautiful grandchildren"¦So far!