2009 Speaker: Steve Hindy
Middleport, Ohio native Steve Hindy is Chairman and President of The Brooklyn Brewery. A former journalist, he became interested in home-brewing while serving as the Beirut-based Middle East Correspondent of The Associated Press. He is former chairman of the Brewers Association Board of Directors, a director of the Prospect Park Alliance, founding chairman of the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, a director of Transportation Alternatives, and a member of the board of the Beer Institute. Hindy was Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Ellen, principal of Intermediate School 89 in Manhattan. They have two children. With Tom Potter, Hindy co-authored BEER SCHOOL: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery, Forward by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, published by John Wiley & Sons.
Middleport, Ohio native Steve Hindy credits his experience as a newspaper carrier for the local daily, The Athens Messenger, as one of the reasons he was able to see the world and find success in the craft brewing industry. Hindy, now CEO of Brooklyn Brewing, delivered the newspaper for several years and won a national competition for Most Popular newspaper carrier. That prize, a trip to Brazil, convinced him he wanted to see the world. When his family moved from Middleport to Upstate New York when he was 16, he started writing for local newspapers to gain experience that would lead to a distinguished career as an Associated Press journalist. He landed a position in Beirut, covering the Middle East conflicts, including the assassination of Anwar Sadat. While stationed overseas, the government provided Americans with beer making kits since alcohol was prohibited in the Muslim culture. Hindy and his friends enthusiastically pursued brewing beer and enjoyed the unusual results. When he returned to the states, Hindy gathered partners to open a full-scale brewery in Brooklyn. He reached back to his roots and found financial backing from several key individuals in his native Middleport.
