WOODARD
Keeping it real.
I spent the best years of craft beer at New Belgium during its employee-ownership era. Before culture was a goal in a slide deck, it was a long hug before departing for lunch. I know what it costs to build something real and what it feels like when it works.
A voracious learner by nature, a builder by instinct, and someone who finds the signal in the noise. In markets, in teams, in rooms where decisions get made.
In 2024 alone, New Belgium's new brands held the #1 and #2 spots while Bell's simultaneously landed at #5. Every launch forecast was built collaboratively with Sales, Marketing, and Supply Chain. Mike authored the final product; a plan both companies relied on for coordinating materials, production, and 500+ distributors before the first case shipped.
Rebuilt the entire AOP forecast within days of COVID hitting. Competitors ran out of stock. New Belgium didn't. Distributors rewarded it: Points of Distribution grew from ~300K to 650K+ by 2023.
Merged two separate planning systems, distributor networks, and forecast logics post-acquisition. S&OP processes and teams were rebuilt from the ground up. The unified S&OP cadence across both brands contributed to a shipment trend swing of 16 points.
Treated the Annual Operating Plan as a system to improve, not just run. Year-over-year gains compounded into permanent infrastructure. In November 2025, the SVP of Commercial Finance said it directly: "The production of the Annual Operating Plan has been amazing this year. We have taken two months off of the process."
ABOUT IT.
Whether you're a recruiter, a founder who's stuck, a small business looking for a spark, or just someone who wants to think out loud with a person who's done the work, I'm genuinely interested in your problem.