The North American Guild of Beer Writers is pleased to announce that Pat Walls has been named the new Director of the guild, effective immediately.
Mr. Walls has been a guild member for many years and coordinated the 2024 NAGBW Awards. He is an independent culinary historian and sensory scientist in training who covers the social and cultural history of beer and fermented beverages. He is working on three book projects simultaneously (but does not recommend that for anyone). In addition to the guild, Mr. Walls is active with the Craft Maltsters Guild and the new Slow Beverage initiative with Slow Food USA. He is a Certified Cicerone® and BJCP® Certified Beer, Mead, and Cider Judge in addition to other sensory certifications. Mr. Walls is also the Doctoral Program Specialist in the San Diego State University College of Graduate Studies where he oversees the full lifecycle of 31 doctoral programs, graduate student funding, and graduate program institutional research.
In a unanimous vote, the Board of Directors of the North American Guild of Beer Writers elected Mr. Walls to the position of Director, replacing Kate Bernot, who is stepping down from the position in December after serving for two years. During her tenure, Ms. Bernot transformed the guild Board of Directors and the by-laws, and we thank her for her service. Mr. Walls will begin his time as director by working on improving guild member resources and education opportunities. One of his first projects will be to continually improve the annual awards to elevate and celebrate guild members’ accomplishments.
“I could not be more confident in Pat Walls as the next guild director,” says Kate Bernot. “His attention to detail, energy, and creativity will be a huge asset to this group.”
Join us in welcoming him to the position and please offer him your support as he undertakes his duties in the new role. Anyone who’s interested in becoming more involved in the guild, this is a great time to reach out and offer him your assistance.
For more information, please feel free to contact Pat Walls by email at walls.patrick@gmail.com