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V. Richard Haro/Th a Coloradoan
BEER BARONESS: New Belgium Brewing Co. CEO Kim Jordan poses next to tanks in the company's
brewhouse Thursday. This fall, Jordan will become the first woman to chair the Brewers' Association
of America.
u
New Belgium CEO stands
behind brewery's mission
By ROBERT BAUN i -6 -.2 1
RobertBaun@coloradoan.com
It might seem that Kim
Jordan was groomed to be a
brewing maestro.
This fall, she'll become the
first woman to chair the 60-
year-old Brewers' Associa-
tion of America.
As chief executive officer
of New Belgium Brewing
Co., she's helped to guide the
business from a two -person
basement operation 10 years
ago to its current status as a
craft brewing icon with 135
employees.
"She's a very strong, ac-
tive, industry leader," said
Daniel Bradford, president of
the Brewers' Association of
America.
Still, the 42-year-old Jor-
dan runs New Belgium like a
social worker - she was a
case worker at the time she
started the brewery with her
husband, Jeff Lebesch — as
much as a captain of indus-
try.
That's all by design.
From the recycled rubber
in her office desk to the wind
power that electrifiesilthe
brewery, Jordan's social
philosophies are etched into
New Belgium's organization.
"In the very broadest
sense, everything we do here
contributes to New Belgium
Brewing Co.," Jordan said.
"It's recyclable carpet
squares ... to trying to make
the grounds pleasing to the
eye."
Indeed, Jordan's the an-
tithesis of the old boy, slap -
on -the -back stereotype that's
associated with the beer
business.
Jordan traces her business
style to her upbringing.
Her father was once press
secretary to California Gov.
Pat Brown. She later moved
to the Washington, D.C.,
area, and grew up attending a
Quaker school in suburban
Maryland.
becoming a commercial brew-
19m Jordan er. She couldn't know
ch' f al
Age: 42
Bush New Belgium
Brewing Co.
Title: Chief executive
officer, co-founder.
Hobbies Soccer,
gardening, bicycling.
In the very
broadest sense,
everything we do
here contributes to
New Belgium
Brewing Co.
Lebec s recipe or amber -I-
Age:
now called Fat Tire —
would become the core of a
multi -million dollar enterprise.
The humble basement be-
ginnings are retold by Jordan
in a New Belgium promo-
tional letter that greets cus-
tomers in the brewery lobby:
"We had a neighbor paint
watercolors that we printed
up as beer labels. Jeff would
brew, we would bottle to-
gether with some help from
our son, Zack, then I would
call accounts and deliver the
beer."
Even in those early days,
Jordan and Lebesch estab-
lished a mission statement
that still defines the compa-
- Kim Jordan
"I grew up in a liberal fam-
ily," she said. "I think that did
shape what money means to
me and what being a commu-
nity means to me," Jordan
said.
Finishing high school at
age 16, she soon joined the
1970s rush to Colorado.
Over the ensuing decade,
she worked a six-pack of
jobs: waitress, bartender,
school bus driver, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife ranger, volun-
teer firefighter and academic
adviser at Aims Community
College.
Jordan eventually com-
pleted a social work degree
at Colorado State University
in 1988 and later worked as a
case manager and interim di-
rector for Project Self -Suffi-
ciency in Fort Collins.
Jordan also met Lebesch in
1988, and the couple was en-
gaged the next year.
At the time, Lebesch was a
full-time electrical engineer
and a. part-time — but pas-
sionate — home brewer.
Jordan soon became aware
that Lebesch was dreaming of
ny.
One of New Belgium's
commitments, for instance,
is to make 20 percent of its
technology purchases on un-
proven, leading -edge equip-
ment.
"We expect 50 percent of
that to fail," Jordan slid.
"That's a choice."
Bradford said New Bel-
gium's loyalty to its mission
statement, which includes
environmental- and employ-
ee -friendly policies, are re-
flected in the brewer's suc-
cess.
"They have a clear vision
of how things should be,,`
Bradford said. "That echoes
in every single element
every detail of their busi-
ness."
Bradford calls Jordan "one
of the industry innovators"
and said she's unperturbed
by being a woman in a large-
ly male domain.
"She doesn't play in the
male beer industry world,"
he said. "She's charting a
course. I think it reflects her
personal convictions and her
sense of integrity ... Always,
at every minute of the day,
she will be Kim Jordan."