ESCONDIDO — Stone Brewing, founded in San Diego in 1996 and ranked as the country’s ninth-largest craft brewery, today announced the hiring of Maria Stipp as CEO, effective Sept. 14.
Stipp spent the past five years as CEO of Lagunitas Brewing Company and before that was president of ecoATM, a company launched in Stone’s hometown of San Diego.
Prior to ecoATM, Stipp was executive vice president at Activision, where she was responsible for “Call of Duty” and “Guitar Hero,” and further in the past, she did stints at Miller Brewing Co. and Kelloggs.
“Maria has all the qualities we were looking for in a CEO,” said Steve Wagner, Stone Brewing co-founder and interim CEO.
“She brings experience from a very well-respected brewery, and experience from outside the industry too. She lives up to our values and has long admired our revolutionary spirit,” he said. “Most importantly, she’s
someone co-founder Greg Koch and I are honored and excited to work with. And the latter is a must, because we’re sticking around!”
Stipp will oversee Stone’s West and East Coast brewing production facilities in Escondido and Richmond, Virginia, respectively, along with two Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens locations and seven Stone Brewing Tap Room locations nationwide, and oversee distribution to all 50 states and more than 40 countries.
She will also hold a seat on the Stone Brewing Board of Directors.
