Local Brewer Addresses Catapult Seacoast Young Professionals
PORTSMOUTH — Catapult, the Seacoast's young professionals networking group dedicated to providing opportunities to enhance personal and professional development, held its most recent Business Speaker Series event at Smuttynose Brewing Co. with speaker host Peter Egelston on Wednesday, November 30.
Catapult’s Business Speaker Series (“BSS”) is designed to stretch beyond networking to provide members with an opportunity to meet dynamic, successful, Seacoast business people in open forum, according to Catapult. Each event is limited in attendance to provide an intimate environment promoting personalized conversations and interaction between the speaker, moderator and audience, the group said.
In the final BSS event of 2011, Egelston shared stories of how he went from teacher to brewer in 1986 when he moved from New York to Massachusetts to co-found the Northampton Brewery with his business partner and sister, Janet. A few years later they opened the Portsmouth Brewery on Market Street. When Egelston learned of the Frank Jones Brewery’s auction, he decided to purchase the equipment and launch the Smuttynose Brewing Co. Since 1994, Smuttynose has become a popular label offering tasty craft brews to the region.
To conclude each BSS event, Catapult asks its signature question: "What can someone working for you do to catapult themselves to the next level?" Egelston’s recommendation to Catapult’s young professionals was to “be involved and be interested in the operation as a whole. Understand the operation as a whole. If opportunities don't present themselves, sometimes you have to create your own opportunities. I'm always interested when people come to me with ideas or suggestions or projects that they're interested in taking on. That means a lot to me.”
Catapult Seacoast kicked off its BSS in 2010 at the One Hundred Club in Portsmouth. The BSS continued in 2011 with a slight change in venue. In an effort to add another layer of exposure to the speaker's professional life, each event was held at the speaker's place of business. Speaker hosts to-date have included Paul Holloway of The Holloway Automotive Group, Chase Bailey of Left Bank Films, Renee Riedel-Plummer of Two International Group, and Tom Obrey of PixelMEDIA.
Smuttynose is currently building a new 42,000 square foot brewery on Towle Farm Road in Hampton, expected to open in 2013.
About Catapult
Catapult, the Seacoast’s Young Professional Networking group, is an organization designed to promote professional growth in the Seacoast marketplace through networking opportunities. Personal and professional development is enhanced through Catapult’s valuable career development programs that include leadership training, seminars, CEO roundtables and more. Catapult believes that youth groups across the state represent the next generation of business leaders. To find out more about Catapult, visit www.catapultseacoast.org. Membership is free!