Board of Directors

Alicia Barr is the Co-Founder, President and Chief Experience Officer of FiftyFifty Brewing Co. in Truckee CA. She has been involved with the CSBA /CCBA since 2007, when there were about 20 brewery owners gathered around a table in the Big Room at Sierra Nevada. She is currently a member of the BA Government Affairs Committee, and Co-Founder and Chair of the Truckee Reno Tahoe Brewers Guild. Additionally, Alicia has participated in numerous Hill Climbs, both State and Federal, to engage with lawmakers for the best interest of the craft brewing community.

Alicia has extensive government experience, having been elected in 2012 to the Truckee Town Council, and serving as Mayor in 2015. While serving, she was a champion of economic development and building a sustainable community, and she developed strong relations with legislators across the state.

Additionally, Alicia is currently a Board Member of the Tahoe Forest Health System Foundation. Her previous board and leadership experience includes Chair of the CSU Chico College of Engineering Advisory Board, Treasurer of the Truckee Roundhouse non-profit, strategic consultant for the Truckee River Watershed Council, and President of the CSU Chico Alumni Association.

Alicia is passionate about craft beer, and its impact on community, both local and global. Her unique experience and relationships would be a great asset in continuing to lobby and champion Independent Craft Beer and all that it represents.

Jim Woods is the founder and CEO of Woods Beer & Wine Co, a family of bars, brewpubs, and wineries around the San Francisco Bay Area.  They make creative, small-batch beer and wine inspired by nature, place, and tradition.

Woods showed an early appreciation for beer, running a clandestine homebrewing operation in his parent’s garage. He went pro in 2006, releasing the world’s first yerba mate beer he dubbed MateVeza. In 2012, Woods opened his first brick and mortar brewpub in his hometown of San Francisco on the corner of Dolores Park.

Woods encompasses retail and wholesale markets, distributing beer and wine made at their production headquarters on Treasure Island to their retail partners as well as their network of neighborhood-focused taprooms across the Bay Area.

With annual production of 1,000 BBLs, Woods has been a strong voice for the smallest breweries in California through his participation on the board since 2018.

Sierra Grossman is a second generation brewery owner/operator.  She has been working a variety of jobs at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. since she was 15 years old, from dishwashing at their Taproom and Restaurant, working on preventative maintenance in the Shop, Merchandising on the local route, to her current position as Vice President, where her focus is on Advocacy and Social Responsibility internally and externally for the company.

Graduating from Chico State with a degree in Health Science, emphasis on Health Education – Sierra has been involved in the local community in a variety of roles, outside of those of the brewery.  With the tragedy the 2018 Camp Fire brought to Paradise – and Butte County overall – Sierra has been managing the funds raised through the brewing of Resilience and stewarding their use towards the long-term rebuilding and healing for the area.  Additionally, she has taken a board of directors’ role with the Camp Fire Long Term Recovery Group, a non-profit focused on disaster management and resources for the community, post Camp Fire.

Sierra has previously served as a board member of the California Craft Brewers Association, and hopes to again have the opportunity to bring her energy and passion for community in all forms to the organization as it continues to support, champion, and strengthen California brewers, and the industry as a whole.

Laurie Porter started Smog City Brewing Co. with her husband Jonathan 8 years ago and has quickly become an industry leader in the Los Angeles craft beer scene while building a strong following for her brewery with a great community of customers. She helps run nearly every aspect of the business, including brand development, taproom operations, bookkeeping, distribution and sales, and community engagement. With a focus on providing customers with a great experience and making Smog City Brewing Co. a true industry leader, Laurie’s ability to foster relationships with community, political, and non-profit organizations has been key to telling the Smog City story and help give back to the local community at the same time. Laurie has spent years working with the CCBA and LABG in helping to define how the beer industry will grow and develop in California. With a strong belief that collaboration and industry support will lead us towards a healthy and sustainable future, Laurie’s commitment to craft beer has always extended beyond the boundaries of the brewery.

Natalie Cilurzo is the Co-Owner and President of Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa and Windsor, California. Natalie has been in the wine or craft beer industries since the age of 16. Her husband, Vinnie, opened Blind Pig Brewing Company in 1994 in Temecula, CA, while Natalie was working at a local winery and putting herself through college. In 1997, Vinnie and Natalie moved to Sonoma County where Vinnie began brewing for Russian River Brewing Company originally located at Korbel Champagne Cellars. Korbel closed the brewery in 2003 and gave Vinnie and Natalie the opportunity to acquire the Russian River brand. After 19 years in the wine industry, Natalie made the decision to join Vinnie full time when they opened their Santa Rosa brewpub in 2004. Over the years, she has developed a passion for giving back to the beer community, whom she considers family, as well as the community in which they live. Natalie previously served nine years on the Board of Directors for the California Craft Brewers Association, two of those years as Board Chair. She is now back on the CCBA Board and loving every minute!
In 2017, Vinnie and Natalie were awarded the “Brewers Association Recognition Award.” And, in 2019, Natalie was honored to be recognized as a “Distinguished Alumni” from her alma mater, Sonoma State University (SSU). She currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for SSU’s School of Business and Economics. Some of her favorite things to do, when time permits, are hiking, working on her 1968 Chevy pickup, and spending time with Vinnie and their three cats!

At the ripe age of 18, I knew I wanted to own a brewery one day so I set my sights on getting a formal business education, double majoring in finance and entrepreneurship. My college education allowed me the opportunity to work in investment banking where I was able to begin honing my financial and business skills. After a couple of years of working in finance, I made the move to San Diego to begin learning the professional brewing trade and business. I worked at Pizza Port Carlsbad, Green Flash, Oggi’s, and The Bruery learning everything I could from the owners, managers, and brewers. While at The Bruery I became very close friends with Travis Smith and we decided to open a brewery together. We opened Societe in May 2012 and have strategically grown our business to what it is today; a San Diego only (99.9%), draft-only, self-distributed brewery with a large focus on wholesale business rather than tasting room/retail. Currently, I serve as the CEO of Societe and am tasked with upholding our brewery’s philosophy, leading management, and executing our strategy. My background from Wall St. combined with professional brewing has given me a tremendous foundation to operate this business from both practical and philosophical levels.

Ultimately, though, craft beer is my passion. It’s what fuels me (figuratively) and I want to do all that I can to help strengthen not only Societe but also California craft breweries. I am able and willing to humbly serve the CCBA and its members to continue the efforts that Tom and all of those involved past and present have worked so hard to create.

Chris Cramer is a past Chair of the CCBA and has been making beer in paradise for a living since 1989 when he and his business partner, Matt Rattner, co-founded Karl Strauss Brewing Company, the first new brewery to open in the city of San Diego in more than 50 years. Since then Chris has enjoyed continuously pioneering in San Diego’s craft brewing industry, opening the city’s first distributing brewery in 1991 and over the years adding seven more brewpubs. While the brewery’s distributed beer operations have remained focused on its home market of “Karlifornia”, Karl Strauss has grown to become one of the top craft brewers in the United States and in 2016 became the only Southern California brewery to win the prestigious “Best Mid-Size Brewery” award at the Great American Beer Festival for breweries with production of 15,000 to 6 million barrels. Chris takes particular pride in having introduced many Southern Californians to their first craft beer and in the knowledge that the DNA of Karl Strauss Brewing Company runs throughout the San Diego brewing industry; he has helped numerous friends and former teammates branch-off to follow their own brewing dreams, making San Diego’s thriving craft beer scene a much more fun and interesting place to work and play.