Redwood Brands helps independent spirits producers reach their customers through sales and distribution management.
We are a team of experienced sales professionals who understand the challenges smaller brands face in the American market and help their founders navigate this dynamic environment. It is an incredibly exciting time to be working with spirits entrepreneurs and we are honored to support, collaborate with and represent the brands in the Redwood portfolio and the people behind them.
Meet the Redwood Team
Addie Nichols-Petsu
Vice President of Operations | addie@redwoodbrands.com
Addie comes to Redwood Brands with 20+ years of experience in the beverage alcohol industry where she partnered with sales & marketing leadership teams in the development of plans and the management of strategy that led to the successful acceleration of brands. Her wealth of category and market insight experience bolstered the capabilities of sales organizations in fostering deeper retail and distributor partnerships. Addie’s previous experience includes tenure with Nielsen, Pernod Ricard, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits and most recently, the McBride Sisters Wine Company. Addie grew up on the Central Coast of California where she attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and currently resides in Portland, OR with her husband Jon and daughter Penelope.
Susanne Allen
Vice President – Strategic Accounts | susanne@redwoodbrands.com
With over 20 years in the Wine and Spirits industry, Susanne brings agile leadership skills that garner an additional share of mind within the distributor, retailer and national accounts. Her experience started with SGWS before moving to the supplier side where she has worked for houses both large (Jackson Family) and small (AV Imports) managing all facets of distribution and sales across the Western, Central divisions and ultimately the US with National Accounts. Susanne most recently worked at Domaine Select Wine & Spirits where she was directly responsible for building a new National Account Silo with a focus on building strategy, new item selection and selling craft Wine and Spirits. Susanne has extensive experience in distributor management, building brands from the ground up, and developing strategies that lead teams to deliver brand equity in a crowded marketplace.
Matthew Gould
Director of Business Intelligence | matthew@redwoodbrands.com
Matthew brings over 25 years of Wine and Spirits Industry experience specializing in strategic leadership driving sales, insights and analytics. His experiences in the industry started in the on-premise sector before moving onto 16 years in the distributor wholesale tier with Breakthru Beverage, most recently as a Director of Analytics. At Breakthru Beverage, he was able to advance his knowledge in competitive intelligence and insights, while providing strategic inputs with forecasting new business development. In addition, successfully instituting detail processes to increase workplace efficiencies by driving modern technical capabilities. From learning how to sell on the streets, to developing a unique set of skills in trade development, to advanced methods in Analytics & Business Intelligence, Matthew has brought a well-rounded industry knowledge to his 3rd tier in the industry at Redwood Brands.
Michelle Facundo Davis
Regional Director – West | michelle@redwoodbrands.com
With over 13 years of experience in the Wine & Spirits industry, Michelle has worked for a few startup brands. Her experience began at Arta Tequila in 2010 as Regional Manager for 3 states, where she managed the distributor, Youngs Market and her team of Market Managers. Michelle most recently worked at Clase Azul Spirits as one of the first US employees, where she built the Southern CA market and contributed to the growth of the brand making it an allocated luxury brand. Most recently, she was the National Brand Manager at Clase Azul Spirits, driving brand awareness, national sales & SGWS management for their Pomegranate Liqueur. She was an integral part of new product innovation & go to market strategy for the brand. She brings with her strong distributor management/relationships, luxury brand strategy knowledge and a passion for building brands. She is the Regional Director for the West at Redwood Brands.
Polly Rhea
Regional Director – Central | polly@redwoodbrands.com
Polly is our Regional Director for the Central Region and manages IL, TN, CO, AZ, MD and DC. Polly brings more than 16 years of experience focusing most of her career on launching emerging craft spirits within the SGWS and Breakthru Beverage distributor networks. Polly has been with Redwood Brands for 5 years and has had much success growing sustainable business for Mr. Black Spirits prior to it selling to Diageo as well as seeing IL become the largest market for Starward whiskey in 2022. She enjoys working with emerging brands from ground up and offers commercial insights, strategic planning, distributor management and key relationships with buyers.
Kelly Howell
Regional Director – South & East | kellyhowell@redwoodbrands.com
Kelly is our Regional Director of the Southeast Division. She manages major states including TX, FL and NY. Kelly brings over 29 years of experience with some of the most iconic consumer products companies in the business: Gallo, Beringer, Miller / Coors and Frito-Lay. In her more recent roles, Kelly was the Vice President of Sales – Strategic and National Accounts at Purple Wine + Spirits where she was responsible for domestic and international sales for exclusive brands and national accounts. Previously at Canopy Management (now Vintage Wine Estates), Kelly was instrumental in the launch and expansion of a dynamic portfolio of lifestyle wines amongst wholesalers and national accounts. Prior to joining Canopy, she held multiple positions with Foster’s Wine Estates (now Treasury Wine Estates) including Vice President National Accounts On-Premise where she redesigned and directed new channel strategies and organizational restructure. During her career, Kelly has established herself as a leader among distribution management and national accounts alike. Kelly guides success through a strong and collaborative leadership style that focuses on building and accelerating sustainable growth and profitability.
