Andrew Byers
President
Co-Owner and Head Cidermaker, Finnriver Farm and Cidery
Andrew Byers has been making cider and managing the team of cider makers at Finnriver for 7 years; building a network of small growers, valued team members, and cherished colleagues. His background in the culinary arts has shown in creative cider making as well as dynamic team leadership, and with an academic focus in fungal ecology and botany his understanding of life systems and process systems is in the fore front of his decision making. Before his time at Finnriver Andrew and his family worked with Eve’s Cidery in NY; gathering national perspective of markets and growing regions. Now well settled in Chimacum WA The Byers family is working on being the change they want to see in the world.
Rachel Bolongaro
Treasurer
Owner, Fraser Valley Cider Company
Rachel Bolongaro is the owner and cider maker at Fraser Valley Cider Company. Rachel started this family owned cidery on a 12 acre plot of land in Langley BC in 2014. From a bare field the site now contains a growing orchard and a cidery that produces 50,000 litres of cider a year. Rachel previously enjoyed a 20 year career as a chemical engineer specializing in renewable energy systems, during this time she sat on the board of Geoexchange BC for 7 years serving as their Secretary and Conference Chair. Rachel was born in the UK and emigrated to Canada 22 years ago.
Jose Gonzalez
Secretary
Owner, La Familia Cider Company
Jose Gonzalez is the CEO and founder of La Familia Cider, a Salem, Oregon based cider company with infused Mexican flavors and traditions. Jose's humble origins and family traditions have led him to become a serial entrepreneur in real estate and now beverages industry with a mission to always inspire and assist new generations of Mexican migrants.
Board Members
Scott Katsma
Board Member
Quality Research and Development, Seattle Cider Company
Scott was born in Chicago, IL but was raised in Boise, ID. He began working at Seattle Cider Company in 2014 and became Head Cidermaker in early 2016. In addition to fermentation innovation, Scott’s passions include waste stream management, creative problem solving, market analysis, and industry networking. As we look to the future, Scott is excited to continue to advocate for education and awareness within the region. Not is he a voice for cideries in and around the PNW, but also an experienced resource for start-up cideries throughout the region.
Molly Leadbetter
Board Member
Co-owner, Meriwether Cider
Molly is an owner of Meriwether Cider as well as the social media and marketing manager.
Originally from Colorado Molly has enjoyed a variety of life experiences, including moving to Idaho, attending the College of Idaho, working as a wildland firefighter rappelling out of helicopters, traveling the world, and then meeting the love of her life a hairy 25lbs Mini Goldendoodle named Luna.
Her favorite Meriwether cider is Heritage Crab Apple.
Amy Wood
Board Member
Senior Vice President, Curious Plot
Amy is an experienced marketing strategist with a track record for building award-winning campaigns and driving industry growth. Over the past two decades, Amy has represented leading agricultural producers, commodity boards, manufacturers, trade associations and consumer brands. At Curious Plot, she leads a team of food experts credited with developing innovative campaigns that educate and inspire people to purchase ingredients like fresh mushrooms, pears, watermelon, apples, and cheese. Recent accomplishments include establishing strategic partnerships with food industry influencers such as the James Beard Foundation, Food Network and HelloFresh.
Amy is the recipient of honors from the National Agri-Marketing Association, American Agricultural Editors’ Association and Public Relations Society of America. She was appointed by the USDA Secretary of Agriculture as a Fresh Pear Committee member and is a member of many trade organizations, including the International Fresh Produce Association and International Foodservice Editorial Council.
Trevor Hertrich
Board Member
Wine Educator at Naked Wines
Despite growing up in the decidedly non-vinous environs of the Chicago suburbs, Trevor has spent most of his professional life in and around the wine business. What began as an interesting diversion in grad school grew to a full-time vocation as a buyer and sommelier in various restaurants of the Mountain West. Stints in the retail, wholesale and import sectors followed. Eventually heeding the call of the dirt, he took on the challenge of managing a small winery in Mosier, OR. A rewarding endeavor that was unfortunately derailed by the pandemic. His current role with Naked Wines draws on his accumulated experiences and (occasional) wisdom to educate their employees and customers about grape growing, wine production, history and regionality.
Y. Dave Klawer
Board Member
Co-Owner, Alma Cider
Dave Klawer is a cidermaker, orchardist, Certified Pommelier™️, cider advocate, educator, and enthusiast. Dave’s desire to spend more time outdoors, his interest in growing tree fruit, and his joy of fermentation led him to pursue a Master's Degree in Agriculture. His dream is to grow and supply NW cidermakers with world class cider fruit, and high quality fresh pressed juice. When Dave is not focused on cider, he spends time with his wife and kids, and he continues to work his 20-year career as a registered nurse.
Dave and his wife Heather co-founded Bitters & Sharps. A family owned wholesale nursery and orchard management company located in the beautiful Skagit Valley of NW Washington. Bitters & Sharps specializes in and consults on cider fruit production, custom grafting, orchard design, and orchard planning.
Dave’s ambitions are driven by his desire to craft the best possible cider and perry products. He believes knowledge sharing and collaboration within the cider community is essential to elevating NW ciders and the cider category in general.
Lastly, he really, really likes cider.
Danelle Kronmiller
Board Member
Marketing Director, 2 Towns Ciderhouse
Danelle is a highly strategic and analytical leader with 20 years professional experience in developing, executing, and scaling B2B and B2C marketing and business development initiatives. A native Oregonian, Danelle began her career launching Silicon Valley based technology companies in California. After receiving her MBA from University of Washington, Danelle moved to Iowa to work as a marketing executive for Fortune 200 company, Principal Financial Group, where she managed teams responsible for creating marketing strategies that reached 5M people and generated half a billion dollars in annual revenue. Once back in Oregon, Danelle forged multiple corporate partnerships at Oregon State University working for the College of Business before landing at 2 Towns Ciderhouse. At 2 Towns, Danelle manages a team responsible for developing growth strategies for the entire brand portfolio, including launching new brand categories, Craftwell Cocktails, and TeaREX Killer Tea, as well as new cider innovations such as The Baddie, a product benefiting women in fermentation sciences. Danelle is passionate about leveraging her talents and experience to give back and serve the PNW community in which she calls home. NWCA interests Danelle because of the potential to have the highest degree of impact on the growth and sustainability of the cider industry. Danelle can bring a strategic marketing mindset, a relationship cultivation skillset, and a positive passion to create impact within our beloved cider community.
Andrew Perez
Board Member
Co-Owner, Highpoint Cider
Once upon a time I was a biochemist that picked up a really bad management consulting habit. Red-eyes, 100+hr work weeks, board meetings, financial strategies, and analytics pipelines for massive healthcare companies was soul crushing. Then one day my brother called me and asked me if I wanted to quit my job and start a cider company. Six weeks later I was driving across the country with all of my worldly belongings. All of the quantitative analytics and strategies could not prepare me for this industry. I never expected to fall in love with an industry as much as I have with producers and products in the PNW - y’all are inspirational and awesome.
To me - people are more important than what - doing good things with good people gets me out of bed in the morning. I hope that I can give back to an industry, and community that has taught and given me so much. The NWCA is poised to champion a new era of American Cider - promoting a culture of excellence and setting industry standards for others to emulate, learn from and look up to.
Sheryl WuDunn
Board Member
Co-Owner, Kristof Farms
With the rest of the Kristof family, Sheryl was thrown into the cider world when we planted cider apple trees in place of a failed cherry orchard. With lots of help from some amazing cidermakers along the way, Kristof Farms has released three delicious varieties of Kristof Farms ciders, plus pet-nats, and will launch Kristof Wine in early 2024.
Sheryl has spent most of her career in cider-irrelevant endeavors: She co-founded FullSky Partners to advise young double-bottom line companies. She was lucky enough to become the first Asian-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize and a best-selling author. Along with her husband, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, she wrote Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, about the great challenges and opportunities for America’s working class, and four other bestsellers, including Half the Sky.
Her experience on Wall Street and journalism may come in handy someday but maybe most useful to NW Cider Association Board of Directors is her board experience: Harvard’s Board of Overseers, and the boards at BayFirst Financial Corp., The Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Malcolm Wiener Center of Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and her former Trustee positions at Princeton and Cornell universities.