Board of Directors

Ryan Keery (Beam Suntory) – Drinks Ontario President, Board Liaison Spirits Committee

Ryan has been a member of the Drinks Ontario Sales and Marketing committee for the past four years and was elected to the Board of Directors in 2017. His Beverage Alcohol career spans +20 years across all categories; Beer, Spirits and Wine with globally and locally recognized brands. In 2014 and 2016, he was awarded the LCBO Partnership Award for Spirits and RTD. Ryan has held progressive roles in sales management at Diageo, PMA, Maxxium and Molson before earning his current role at Beam Suntory Canada. He is an innovative and solutions-oriented Senior Commercial leader with a proven track record of delivering results through strong commercial acumen and the building & motivating of strong people. His life outside of work is centered around his two sons Gavin and Hayden, the family’s 2 dogs and his wife of 17 years; Stephanie.

Kristen Steiner (Arterra Canada) – Drinks Ontario Vice-President, Board Liaison Wines Committee  

Kristen has 21 years’ experience in this industry, all with Arterra Canada (formally Constellation). She has experience across all committees with Drinks Ontario and can support where needed. She’s worked in retail and on premise throughout her career, mainly Key account management for all categories at the LCBO head office (both in Vintages and Wines) and most recently has been working closely with the corporate grocers supporting their business. She has been volunteering her time for the past 7 years with Drinks Ontario as Vice President and in a director capacity. Kristen holds two LCBO Elsie Awards – Partnership in RTD/Spirits and the other partnership in Wines.

Andrea Backstrom (New Zealand Wines) – Drinks Ontario Secretary/Treasurer, Board Liaison Member Services Committee

Andrea is a marketing and sales professional with extensive experience in the Canadian wine and spirits industry. Her four LCBO Elsie Awards demonstrate her ability to create successful marketing campaigns and strategies that resonate with consumers and drive sales. After working various sales, trade and brand management roles across Canada for major agencies such as Mark Anthony Brands and Lifford Wine & Spirits, Andrea co-founded amcc in 2017, through which she manages the Canadian market for New Zealand Winegrowers, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation and Vinho Verde Wines.

As Wines Committee lead, Andrea advises on priorities relating to the Wines and Vintages category trends and merchandising opportunities. She also directs the Member Services Committee, ensuring that members have access to the resources and support they need.

Nelson Abreu (30.50 Imports) – Board Liaison / Chair Consignment Committee

Nelson has invested 18 of his professional career years in the wine business and is founder of 30.50 Imports Inc., an Ontario wine agency dedicated to the marketing and sales of imported wines. He served as Board Liaison & Specialty Services Committee Chair for the past 4 years where he advocated for efficiency and transparency of operations and played an influential role in developing the 2021 Consignment Program Guidelines. Nelson is a WSET diploma graduate and in 2012 was awarded Grand Champion of The Wine Tasting Challenge.

Trevor Dawes (Heineken Canada) – Board Liaison / Chair Retail Committee

Trevor has worked in the beverage alcohol industry for over 20 years with experience in all channels of the business. He’s held various roles with Molson-Coors, Pernod Ricard / Corby Distilleries, Brown Forman, Southern Glazers and is currently the National Key Account Manager at Heineken Canada and the Chair of the Drinks Ontario Retail Operations Committee. Trevor has been apart of the Retail Operations Committee for 7 years helping him gain knowledge of the LCBO retail system which allows him to communicate directly on numerous facets with the senior retail management team and support the Drinks Ontario membership with detailed information on procedures and policy.

Brock James (Ace Beverage Group) – Board Liaison / Chair Ready-to-Drink Committee

Brock James is a highly experienced beverage alcohol professional with over 17 years of experience in various roles and markets in Ontario. He lives in Oakville with his wife, Meghan, and their twin daughters, Charlie and Ellie. Brock's career in the beverage alcohol industry began at the age of 19, and he has been in leadership positions since 2016.

In addition to his board work, Brock has led the RTD Committee as Chair since 2020. In this role, he has worked closely with the RTD category and industry leaders to drive growth in this important category.

Brock's most recent career move was to Ace Beverage Group (formerly Ace Hill & Iconic Brewing) in 2017 after spending ten years at Molson Coors. In his day-to-day leadership role at ABG, Brock focuses on on-premise, partnerships, and business development. He is committed to driving growth and profitability for the organization while fostering world-class relationships with customers and partners.

Kevin Lynch (EPIC Wines & Spirits) – Board Liaison / Chair Wines Committee

Kevin’s experience in beverage alcohol spans over 20+ years including executive roles with Mark Anthony Brands, Treasury Wine Estates and Seagram, both in Canada and the U.S.A. Kevin is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of EPIC Wines and Spirits Inc., a Beverage Alcohol Sales & Marketing Agency based in Toronto, Ontario.

Kevin has been the Wines Committee Chair for the past 4 years, previous to that he has spent time on the Retail Committee and Wine Committee as a contributing member. His experience provides the Wines Committee with additional insight into resolving challenges and creating opportunities, as we work together with the category leaders.  Kevin has worked very closely with the LCBO for many years, he has been an Elsie Award winner for Retail Partnership, Supplier of the year and multiple brand awards.

Matthew Pelton (Sleeman Breweries) – Board Liaison / Chair Beer & Cider Committee

Matthew has worked in the beverage alcohol industry for over a decade and has been an active member of Drinks Ontario since 2017. He first joined the Retail Committee in 2017 and was the first Committee Chair of the Refreshment Committee when it was first formed in 2018. More recently he has been the Committee Chair of the Beer & Cider Committee, after these Categories were split from RTD to allow better committee focus on all 3 Categories. He was first elected to the Board of Directors in 2021.

Matthew actively supports our trade community initiatives including a position on the We Care Ski Day committee and more recently as a mentor in Drinks Ontario’s inaugural Drinkclusion program in partnership with Vinequity in 2022. At Sleeman Breweries he has held several progressive roles starting from an on-premise role in 2010 and advancing to a Key Account role with LCBO in 2012. His role was expanded to oversee sales in Atlantic Canada in 2016, and he was promoted again in 2021 to a managerial role overseeing Sleeman’s Key Accounts team for Ontario and Atlantic. Over the past 11 years working with LCBO Matthew has been recognized for his strong relationships with the Beer & Cider Category team, having been nominated for 2 Beer Partner of the Year Elsie’s before having won the award in 2020.

Terry Sauriol (Colio Estate Wines / Thornbury Craft Cider & Beer) – Board Liaison / Chair Grocery Committee

Terry Sauriol has worked in the beverage alcohol industry for over 20 years. He started his career at Andrew Peller Limited where he was involved in the marketing and trade marketing for Andrew Peller’s wine brands to all liquor boards across the country. While working at Andrew Peller, he was twice awarded an Elsie for best new wine brand launch and also won a partnership award from the NSLC for a new wine brand launch. After working at Andrew Peller Limited, Terry joined Hobbs & Co as the Director of Retail Business responsible for selling and promoting Hobbs & Co’s agency portfolio to the LCBO while also being key contact person for a number of the company’s suppliers to the Ontario market. For the past 4 years, Terry has been the Vice President of Sales for Colio Estates Wines/Thornbury Craft Co, a full-service supplier and agent/consignment agent, dedicated to the Ontario marketplace. Terry has been an active member of Drinks Ontario since 2017 serving on the Grocery Committee and Chair of the Grocery Committee since 2019. Terry has served on the Board of Directors for Drinks Ontario for the past two years. Terry also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Ontario Craft Cider Association.

Dan Shorrocks (Select Wines & Spirits) – Chair Government Relations Committee

Dan’s extensive experience in the beverage alcohol industry spans more than 25 years, including roles at the LCBO, Maxxium Canada and Mark Anthony Brands. Today, as Partner at Select Wines Canada, Dan continues to focus on innovation and relationship building in the industry while being hands on in his role as VP of Operations in Eastern Canada.

Dan’s passion for moving the industry forward is expressed through his collaborative approach with members, LCBO senior management and various government agencies such as representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Attorney General.

Clayton Blakeley (Bacardi Canada) – Chair Spirits Committee

Clayton has a wealth of industry experience in beverage alcohol spanning over 25 years, working with liquor boards across Canada. His career has included roles with Premier Brands, Diageo and Pernod Ricard. In his current role as Eastern Canada Regional Director with Bacardi, Clayton is responsible for the commercial business in Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes provinces and Newfoundland.

Clayton hands-on approach in his role, provides the Association with valuable insight into the day-to-day activity of Ontario Spirits industry.