Who's That Gal: Jenn Lever, President of Baxter Brewing

Name: Jenn Lever
Age: 34
Occupation: President of Baxter Brewing
Currently living in: South Portland, Maine
Hometown: Auburn, Maine
Currently reading: The Golf Omnibus by P.G. Wodehouse
Favorite workout: Spinning and personal training 
I never leave home without____: A bracelet that has the longitude and latitude of my childhood home that all of my immediate family has

You recently became President of Baxter Brewing, congrats! Was it always your dream to run a brewery?

Thank you! Not at all, I had no idea I would ever work in a brewery or in any job I have had post-college. My obsession for operations and logistics was born from following my interests, asking a lot of questions and be open to trying a lot of different roles at a very early age. It is a privilege to work for Baxter and to represent the team we have. Maine Craft Beer is an exciting and challenging industry and I am thrilled that my occupational passions merged with my passion for Maine!

What traits do you think have helped you become a successful leader in a traditionally male-dominated field?

My career started in a male-dominated industry and there were very few women with the operations side of the organization either as my peers, mentors or direct reports. With no women to ask how to be successful in a demanding, fast pace environment my only step forward was to seek out the traits of my peers that were successful. As I was faced with different choices I was driven by what anyone would do in a scenario versus what a female would do. What were the goals of the organization and how have I aligned myself, my team, with these key performance indicators. I never sought out opportunities to speak to my gender, it was something both myself and my peers were acutely aware of every day. I was incredibly fortunate to have the platform among my first roles with Pepsi to bring to light the differences that were perceived to be because of my gender, to highlight opportunities to improve the behaviors and practices about how my peers spoke about me based on gender versus performance and be surrounded with men that remained open in pushing their perception of what was expected because I was a female. 

What drew you to Baxter Brewing in particular?

Initially, it was conversations about process consulting or efficiency improvements. Places where I could help in procurement or leveraging my experience in equipment and quality at Pepsi to help Baxter save money. I wanted to network with people in Maine that were working in Manufacturing because I always knew this was where I wanted to be long term. Life happened and other opportunities brought me back to Maine through a different avenue of running a vegetable processing company and as I moved on from green beans and snap peas to begin process consulting on my own, the draw of contributing to a manufacturer in my hometown area was something I never imagined and could not say resist! 

What does a typical day look like for you? 

Most days I am up by 5 am, workout at 6 am and I am on the way to the brewery by 7:45 or into the brewery before 6 two days a week for a little extra time before my heavy meeting days. Days at the brewery, I always do a walk through and touch base with each department, and look at cleanliness in several key areas. Most of my days consist of at least 4 meetings with some being offsite. I head home between 5-7 and usually work a few hours from home. 

What advice would you give to someone looking to break into the world of brewing?

Make sure you align with a brand that is authentic to what they want to accomplish. We work in a world where our product is truly a craft and in a crowded market that depends on change and options, and demands hard work, it is important to be in touch with what's true to you. Be willing to start small, like any of my experiences leaving from every segment of the business yields understanding the larger issues in roles of supervision or management. 

How do you balance your career and your personal life?

I am incredibly fortunate to have friends and family, (and a Baxter team!) who understand that I tend to give everything I have into anything I commit to doing. They help balance me and remind to keep that balance in mind. For me personally, a regimented workout schedule is the best thing I can do for balancing all aspects of my life, it keeps me prioritized, allows me to have time to focus very narrowly and builds some boundaries some self-care time. 

What’s next for Baxter Brewing? And you, personally?

Baxter has an incredibly exciting month and year ahead! With our 10th year of business underway, we rang in our 9th Year Anniversary on January 24th with a release Wicked Phantom a heavy-hitting combination of two of our favorite winter beers from the Baxter archives. In February we will kick off our partnership with the New England Free Jacks with Free Jacks IPA being offered throughout Boston and New Hampshire to start as well as our first 19.2 oz can! On the 29th of the month, we will leap into the year with a complete relaunch of our year rounds beers! We have an incredible team ready to bring a year of exciting beers and partnerships and we cannot wait to hear what everyone thinks! As for me personally, more miles on my bike, board and in plane I hope!

Cameron Bruns Ewing is the managing editor of Just Us Gals. She’s working to make the tech industry more inclusive at Hubspot and is also pursuing a degree in environmental sustainability from University College Dublin.

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