CEO
Steve Villani is a thirty-three year veteran in the beer industry. His formative years were spent holding various sales and marketing positions with Anheuser-Busch from 1986 to 2006. There he was able to develop disciplines such as Chain Account Sales, Field Management, Geographic Marketing and Shelf Space management. This led to him holding various wholesaler senior management positions.
Shortly before acquiring Global Beer Network in 2007, Steve served as of VP and General Manager of Brown Distributing Company in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ultimately, in an effort to get closer to family and friends in the Greater Boston Area, he took a Sales Director position with Crown Imports based out of New York.
In an effort to close the gap completely he started seeking out opportunities to acquire an existing business to own and develop. He stumbled upon Global Beer Network and quickly researched the brands. The first one he sought out was Gulden Draak and after taking his first sip…the search was over!
If anyone has shared a toast with Steve, they know that his passion for our independent family-owned breweries is incomparable.
“Selling these beers goes beyond selling a liquid. The story and history behind the families that have nurtured these breweries for centuries is the driving sales point behind these brands. I take my role of helping these brewers pass the family business down to the next generation healthier than when they got it very seriously” – Steve Villani
