Straub Brewery to visit Pitt-Bradford for Executive Speaker Series

BRADFORD, PA – Five executives from Straub Brewery Inc. in St. Marys will visit the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on Tuesday, Nov. 5, as featured speakers in the Executive Speaker Series.

The talk will begin at 6 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room in the Frame-Westerberg Commons. The event is free and open to the public.

Those speaking will be Patty Brock, chairwoman of the board of directors; Bill Brock, president and chief executive officer; Vince Assetta, vice president, general manager and head brewer; Cathy Lenze, director of sales and marketing; and John Schlimm, a member of the board of directors.

Patty Brock is the great-granddaughter of Straub Brewery founder Peter Straub and has served as the chairwoman of the board of directors since the late 1990s. One of four sisters, Brock was an elementary schoolteacher for 30 years in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania and has volunteered with a variety of local organizations.

The great-great-grandson of Peter Straub, Bill Brock became president and CEO of Straub in 2009. His extensive background in business and the nonprofit sector includes serving as CEO and executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development Corp., which he co-founded, and as project manager and project analyst for the research and consulting firm McDowell Group Inc. in Juneau, Alaska.

Assetta has been the general manager and head brewer at Straub since 2010. His professional brewing career began at Straub, and he has an associate degree in brewing from the Siebel Institute in Chicago. He is responsible for brewery operations, accounting and finance.

Over the past two years, Assetta and his team started a research and development program from which has emerged a line-up of Straub specialty beers. These have included 1872 Lager, Groundhog Altbier, Maibock India Pale Ale, and the just-released Harvest IPL and Straubator Dopplebock. Before joining Straub, he had extensive experience in accounting, finance and manufacturing. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. Vincent College and is a certified public accountant in Pennsylvania.

Lenze has been the director of sales and marketing since 2011. In this role, she coordinates the public relations and marketing campaigns and initiatives for the corporation and manages a statewide team of sales representatives as well as relationships with hundreds of distributors, bars, restaurants and other venues. Before joining Straub, Lenze was the executive assistant for a nonprofit organization serving the disabled.

The great-great-grandson of Peter Straub, Schlimm is a member of the board of directors and co-founder of Team Straub, the philanthropic arm of the corporation. An activist, educator, artist and international award-winning author, he has written several books, including such beer-themed titles as “The Ultimate Beer Lover’s Cookbook,” “The Straub Beer Cookbook,” “The Straub Beer Party Drinks Handbook” and “Straub Brewery.” Schlimm earned his dual secondary education certifications in English and speech communications at Pitt-Bradford, has taught in the Communications and the Arts Division and delivered the 2012 commencement address. He also holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.

German immigrant Peter Straub, who, at age 19, left his family and homeland in search of the American Dream, founded Straub in the 1870s. Today Straub Brewery is an American Legacy Brewery. It is one of the oldest breweries in the country and is still owned and operated by its founding family, now into its sixth and seventh generations.

The Pitt-Bradford business management program sponsors the Executive Speaker Series. For disability-related needs, contact the Office of Disability Resources and Services at (814)362-7609 or clh71@pitt.edu.