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Lycoming College’s Institute for Management Studies is pleased to welcome 2016 Dr. James E. Douthat Outstanding Achievement Award recipient Dick Yuengling ’66 and his daughters for a presentation and panel discussion in Clarke Chapel on Wednesday, March 27, at 5:30 p.m. The panel will focus on the brewer’s history, and growth of this once small business into a leader in the beer industry.
Before returning to his family business, Yuengling studied business and played baseball at Lycoming College. His Lycoming education aided him in expanding the formerly small brewery into the largest U.S.-owned brewery and the fourth largest beer distributor in the country, producing 2.5 million barrels of beer every year. The company is currently celebrating 190 years of continuous operation.
Yuengling’s daughters joined him in the business to serve as its sixth generation of family leadership. Wendy Yuengling currently serves as the chief administrative officer at the brewery, while Jennifer Yuengling fills the role of vice president of operations, Debbie Yuengling Ferhat works in sales administration and pricing management, and Sheryl Yuengling works in order services.
The Yuengling daughters were recently featured on the Today Show: “We all sort of started off entering the business through the bottom in different ways and we’ve worked our way up,” said Wendy Yuengling.
“I think we can say as the sixth generation, we have a passion for what we do. We each have our own responsibilities, and we work in different departments and that’s what’s making us successful now,” said Jennifer Yuengling.
Dick Yuengling supports a host of causes that contribute to the well-being of the communities around him. As a committed member of the Pottsville, Pa., community, he serves on the Pottsville Chamber of Commerce and volunteers at local fire departments and the Lions Club. He supports education by funding scholarships both at Pottsville High School and Lycoming College, and remains an active member of both the Pennsylvania Brewers Association and the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
“Yuengling Brewery is a giant in the beer industry, and the ambitious, entrepreneurial students at Lycoming College, as well as the Williamsport community at large, stand to gain a lot from the business prowess of this esteemed alumnus and his family as they share with the College and Williamsport community,” said Mehrdad Madresehee, Ph.D., the Robert and Mary Jackson Shangraw Professor of Economics and director of the IMS at Lycoming College. “Dick Yuengling embodies everything a Lycoming student should be — he is dedicated, determined, and a leader. We are proud to once again have him back on campus.”
The James W. Harding Executive Speaker Series, a lecture series facilitated by the College’s Institute for Management Studies, invites top business executives like the Yuenglings to campus each year. Through annual lectures, endowed by a grant from the James S. Kemper Foundation in Long Grove, Ill., the series allows students to network with some of America's top business executives. Past speakers have included David Schoch ’73, CEO of Ford China, Ford Motor Company; Gene Dodaro ’73, Acting Comptroller General, United States of America; Rafael Moreno-Valle ’91, Governor of Puebla, Mexico; Deirdre Connelly ’83, President, Lilly USA; and Alicia Tillman ’97, Global Chief Marketing Officer, SAP; among others.
Click here to view the recording of the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoReGIvgIu0.