The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) today announced that its affiliated state association leaders, known collectively as the Advisory Council, has elected The Honorable Jeff Warsh, Executive Director and General Counsel of the New Jersey Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, as Chairman of the group.
The WSWA Advisory Council is comprised of members from wholesaler state associations in nearly every state that focus on state legislative and regulatory issues impacting wholesalers around the country. Warsh succeeds outgoing WSWA Advisory Council Chairman Lou Cassis, a Boston-area attorney and President of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Massachusetts, who led the Advisory Council since 2016.
Warsh has been a leader in the state legislative arena on issues of importance for wine and spirit wholesalers and actively involved with the organization for nearly two decades. He previously served as Vice Chair of the Advisory Council and is an original member of WSWA’s Strategic Threats Committee. In these roles, he has been a key voice in the development of a proactive agenda in response to legislative and regulatory challenges facing wholesalers, regulators and beverage alcohol industry members at large.
"WSWA’s Advisory Council is the critical advocate for America’s family-owned wine and spirits wholesalers across the country. The Advisory Council has the sole mission of advancing the interests of wholesalers in the U.S. and ensuring these businesses will continue to create jobs and deliver quality products to all corners of the nation,”said WSWA President and CEO Craig Wolf. “Jeff has added tremendous value to the Advisory Council and has been instrumental in growing the New Jersey Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association. He has significantly contributed to the successes of WSWA through both the Advisory Council and as part of our Strategic Threats Committee and I know he will continue to be an asset through his term as Chairman.”
Warsh is also a partner at MBI GluckShaw, New Jersey’s largest governmental and public affairs firm. He is responsible for clients in two major fields: the hospitality sector/regulated substances and transportation infrastructure/homeland security. He is also partner at Post Polak Goodsell & Strauchler in Roseland, NJ, where he chairs the Hospitality, Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis Group.
Warsh received his Juris Doctorate from Emory University and is a member of the New Jersey State Bar and the Federal Bar for the Second Circuit.
WSWA is the national trade association representing the wholesale tier of the wine and spirits industry, dedicated to advancing the interests and independence of wholesalers, distributors and brokers of wine and spirits. Founded in 1943, WSWA has more than 380 member companies in 50 states and the District of Columbia, and its members distribute more than 80 percent of all wine and spirits sold at wholesale in the U.S.