COLLINGWOOD, ON – Ben’s Beer Blog reports that the Board of Directors of Side Launch Brewing has terminated the company’s President and CEO Garnet Pratt Siddall with immediate effect.
According to the article, the announcement to staff and stakeholders from Andy Wilder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said the board “decided that Side Launch would be best served with a new leader,” and that “[i]t is normal that as an organization grows, the skills and processes needed to manage the organization change.” Another source is anonymously quoted as saying that the split was due to “fundamental disagreements over how to run the business.”
Pratt Siddall was the primary founder of the company, and during her tenure Side Launch was named Brewery of the Year at the 2016 Canadian Brewing Awards. She was also elected to the Chair of the Board of Directors of Ontario Craft Brewers last year, and was the first woman to serve in that role.
The search for a new CEO is set to begin immediately, and in the meantime, the board has named Al Stuart – managing partner of The Pilot Tavern in Toronto, and a board member at both the Bloor Yorkville BIA and JAZZFM – to the position on an interim basis.