Alan Newman is an American serial entrepreneur based in the U.S. state of Vermont, who co-founded Gardener's Supply Company, Seventh Generation Inc., Magic Hat Brewing Company, and Alchemy & Science, Boston Beer Company's “incubator business.”[1][2]
Alan Newman | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Alan Newman in the Magic Hat Mardi Gras Parade. February 28, 2009 | |
| Born | 1946 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Magic Hat Brewing Company, Seventh Generation Inc., Gardener's Supply Company |
Life and career
Originally from Long Island, New York,[3] Newman spent a year at Parsons College in Iowa before dropping out and moving to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.[4] Newman returned home, enrolled in Long Island University in Southampton and graduated on the deans list after recovering from an encounter with police where he was caught with a small amount of pills and marijuana.[5]Newman then moved to Burlington, Vermont, in 1970, after living on a commune in Oregon.
Newman's business career as an entrepreneur began in 1983, when he helped found Gardener's Supply Company with his friend Will Raap. He co-founded Seventh Generation Inc. in 1988, but was later forced out amid business difficulties in 1992.[6] In 1994 he co-founded Magic Hat Brewing Company and served as CEO, before leaving in 2010.[7] In 2011, Newman was recruited by Boston Beer Company's chairman Jim Koch to run Alchemy & Science, a subsidiary devoted to developing new beer lines for the company.[8] Newman developed brands such as Traveler Beer Company, a line of shandies; Coney Island Brewery; Concrete Beach Brewery; and Angel City Brewery.[9] Newman authored a book, High on Business: The Life, Times, and Lessons of a Serial Entrepreneur, in 2011, which includes a foreword and afterword by friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.[10] On January 25, 2016, Newman bought out the co-founder of Higher Ground Nightclub, a nightclub in the Burlington, Vermont area that has operated since 1998.[11] He also serves on the steering committee of the Vermont Cannabis Collaborative, an organization supporting the development of the Vermont cannabis industry.[12] He has a daughter, Zoë.[13]
Controversy
In 2021, an employee of Higher Ground made a series of allegations against Newman and his Higher Ground co-owner in the VTDigger.[14] According to the allegations, Newman failed to confront sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and the verbal abuse of women and non-binary employees that happened under his watch. Newman also allegedly told rape jokes and engaged in sexist behavior himself.[14]
Newman's Higher Ground co-owner, Alex Crothers, responded by saying that while he believed the employee's experiences were real, he did not think it accurately described Higher Ground as it currently exists.[14]