Craft Connections:
Beverage Education Summit
Meet the Speakers
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
Jake Nunes is a seasoned food and beverage professional with more than 30 years of experience in hospitality, management, and bar leadership. Since entering the craft beer industry in 2004, he has held key roles with some of San Diego’s most respected breweries and beer destinations, including Ballast Point, Stone Brewing, Societe Brewing, Burgeon Beer Co., Modern Times, and North Park Beer Co.
A Certified Cicerone® since 2011, Jake is a longtime beer educator and industry speaker. For 11 years, he taught courses including Exploring Craft Beer and Beer Styles I & II through San Diego State University’s Business of Craft Beer program, where he also served on the Advisory Board.
Jake has shared his expertise at industry conferences and across radio, podcasts, and television. He also served three years on the San Diego Brewers Guild Board of Directors and was elected Guild President in 2024.
Jonathan Thompson is a beer writer, beer judge, and educator based in Toronto, Canada. He is the host of the Beer Taster’s Notebook podcast, and a contributor to various publications, including his site The Beer Tasters Notebook. Jonathan is an Advanced Cicerone®, a member of the Academy of Cheese and a BJCP Recognized Judge. Constantly in the pursuit of education and experience, he lends an approachable yet in-depth dive into the world of beer, whether it be beer travel, pairing techniques, or the biochemistry of flavor. He is a member of the North American Beer Writers Guild, and GTA brews.
Megan Greenwood is the founder and CEO of Greenwood Brewing, an independent craft brewery, beer garden, and tasting room based in Downtown Phoenix. An industrial engineer by training, Megan spent nearly a decade in manufacturing, engineering, and technical sales before turning her passion for homebrewing into a business.
She began brewing in 2014, launched the Greenwood brand in 2017, and opened the brewery’s Downtown Phoenix taproom in 2020. Today, Greenwood beer is distributed throughout Arizona, with the company continuing to expand its taproom presence.
As one of the few sole woman-owned breweries in the country, Megan is a passionate advocate for creating greater opportunity and visibility for women in craft beer and entrepreneurship. Beyond Greenwood, she advises business owners on strategy, operations, finance, and growth and has held leadership roles with the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild and Arizona Talks. She remains actively involved in Phoenix’s business and entrepreneurial community.
Dr. Kristen England is a BJCP Grand Master Beer Judge with extensive international experience and professional brewer with over 15 years experience who is currently the Head Brewer at Wabasha Brewing Co (STP, MN). He is the Education Director of the BJCP, as well as a principle author of the BJCP style guidelines used in competitions worldwide along an author and contributor to technical publications on brewing and historical beer styles.
Pat Walls is a published independent culinary historian, trained sensory scientist, and experienced beverage and writing judge whose work focuses on sustainable food and drink. He currently serves as Director of the North American Guild of Beer Writers, supporting and advancing the work of writers, journalists, and communicators across the beer industry.
Pat is also the Doctoral & Graduate Programs Analyst for San Diego State University’s College of Graduate Studies, where he leads a team overseeing doctoral programming, graduate student funding, and institutional research and effectiveness.
His extensive beverage education and judging credentials include Advanced Cicerone®, BJCP® Certified Beer/Mead/Cider Judge, and WSET Level 2 Award in Beer. Bringing together a background in sensory science, culinary history, education, and communication, Pat offers a uniquely multidisciplinary perspective on how we taste, understand, evaluate, and ultimately communicate about beer and the broader world of food and beverage.
Scott Plachecki has spent more than a decade working across nearly every corner of Arizona’s beer industry. His experience includes professional brewing, laboratory and quality work, beer sales, and draft system maintenance and installation, giving him a uniquely well-rounded perspective on beer from production to service.
Today, Scott serves as Beer Director for Tap & Bottle’s craft beer bars in Tucson, where he brings his technical knowledge, sensory expertise, and passion for great beer to curating thoughtful beer programs and guest experiences.
Scott is an Advanced Cicerone® and nationally ranked beer judge, with a deep appreciation for beer styles, quality, draft service, and the role education plays in connecting people with what’s in their glass. Whether evaluating beer, building a tap list, troubleshooting a draft system, or advocating for an underappreciated classic, Scott believes great beer deserves knowledgeable, intentional service.
And above all, he wants you to #BringBackBrownBeer.
Lia Garcia is the Assistant Manager at Weir Beer in Vista, California, and has worked in the San Diego craft beer industry for more than 13 years. Throughout her career, she has supported brewery operations, hospitality programs, consumer education initiatives, and community-focused events that connect people through craft beverages.
In addition to her work at Weir Beer, Lia serves on the Board of Directors for the Pink Boots Society. Her passion lies at the intersection of hospitality, beverage education, community building, and creating meaningful experiences that inspire curiosity and engagement within the craft beverage space.
Charlie Cummings has spent more than two decades brewing professionally across the New England craft beer industry. His career has taken him through breweries large and small, including Harpoon Brewery and the acclaimed Mystic Brewery, where he served as Head Brewer before joining Remnant Brewing in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 2018.
As Head Brewer at Remnant, Charlie has helped shape the brewery’s beer program from its earliest days, bringing an experimental approach to styles ranging from saisons and sour beer to IPAs, stouts, and beers incorporating seasonal and local ingredients. In 2023, he became a vested partial owner of the brewery.
Charlie is also a writer whose work explores the often messy, demanding, and deeply rewarding realities of brewery life. His first book, Craft Brewing May Not Be For You, was self-published in 2024 and chronicles his journey from obsessive homebrewer to professional brewer and industry veteran. He is currently working on a follow-up featuring perspectives from brewers across the industry. Outside the brewhouse, Charlie is also a musician and guitarist.
Scott Hanback and Joshua Burdan founded Craft Culture Draft Solutions in 2022, bringing more than 35 years of combined experience in the draft beverage industry. Together, they help breweries, bars, restaurants, and hospitality businesses improve beverage quality and performance through expert draft system design, installation, maintenance, and service.
Serving businesses across Arizona, Craft Culture is built around quality workmanship, practical solutions, and education. As members of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild, Arizona Restaurant Association, and Local First Arizona, Scott and Joshua are deeply invested in Arizona’s craft beverage and hospitality communities.
They believe better draft service starts with better knowledge and are passionate about helping industry professionals understand their systems, reduce waste, troubleshoot problems, and ultimately serve a better product.
Johann Warnholtz founded Exceptional Vibe in 2024 after a fifteen-year career in event production and digital marketing. A passionate beer enthusiast, he was the driving force behind the creation of the Arizona Craft Beer Awards and has single-handedly launched several successful event brands including AZ Brunch Fest, the Sunday Dinner series, Arizona Soup Festival and Flavors on Main.
Exceptional Vibe is dual-purpose business: a marketing and public relations agency that specializes in helping hospitality brands grow and thrive, and an event production company that specializes in creative and unique food and beverage events. Exceptional Vibe's mission is to create extraordinary experiences for the Phoenix community and promote local businesses, restaurants, breweries and more.
Bob Wilson made his marks as a high-impact business catalyst and strategic leader who transforms ambitious ideas into major revenue engines. With over 30 years of executive experience and an MBA from Dartmouth, Bob has consistently driven exceptional growth for both emerging start-ups and Fortune 500 companies across big data, consumer goods, digital media, and now hopefully, craft beer.
His track record includes expanding YesVideo’s footprint from 50 to 50,000 retail outlets globally, pioneering the science of variety optimization, and scaling Market6 to $20 million in recurring revenue in under 15 months. Featured in Tom Peters’ bestseller Thriving on Chaos while at Frito-Lay, and recognized across national media, Bob excels at business turnarounds, business development, and building high-performing teams that deliver lasting market impact.
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Ross Hunsinger is the Brand Director for Abstrax Hops, where he helps lead the development and adoption of innovative hop, terpene, and flavor technologies for the brewing industry. A Siebel Institute alum, former owner of Atlas Sodaworks, and longtime beverage innovator, Ross brings a background spanning brewing science, bartending, product development, and sensory-driven flavor exploration. At Abstrax, he works closely with brewers to explore new approaches to hop aroma, flavor, efficiency, and beverage innovation. When he’s not traveling for beer, Ross enjoys spending time with his wife and dogs in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.
Allo Gilinsky is a Certified Cicerone® with more than 15 years of front-of-house experience across the hospitality and beer industries. Allo has built a reputation for making beer approachable, engaging, and memorable. He currently serves as Hospitality & Education Manager for Fieldwork Brewing Company, where he develops education programs, brewery experiences, and hospitality initiatives across multiple locations.