New Belgium Brewing’s Kim Jordan Honored Among 2018’s ‘World-Changing Women’

American craft beer pioneer, New Belgium Brewing’s Kim Jordan, has been named one of 2018’s 30 World-Changing Women in Conscious Business — a list compiled by Conscious Company Media.

Jordan is New Belgium’s co-founder, former CEO and current Executive Chair of the Board of Directors. The Fort Collins-based brewery, which now has a second location in Asheville, North Carolina, celebrates its 27th anniversary this year. Jordan’s leadership and vision has powered the independent brewery for nearly 30 years.

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“In some ways, Jordan’s is a classic entrepreneurial success story: an idea that started as a passion project in a basement has now grown into one of the most successful businesses in its industry,” writes Rachel Zurer, the author of the piece. “But what makes the rise of the US’s fourth-largest craft brewery special is the way Jordan has again and again ignored conventional wisdom to create one of the most equitable, sustainable, and community-focused companies around.”

Jordan’s dedication to that vision has been resolute. In a 2017 CraftBeer.com piece on the “Evolution of Women’s Contributions to Brewing Beer,” Jordan relayed a story from the brewery’s earliest days, in which she remembers, “serving beers on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, delivering a newborn son the following Wednesday, and opening a new brewery the subsequent Monday.”

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In her interview for the 30 World-Changing Women article, she shares some advice: “As quickly as you can, have the confidence to be who you are and take chances. Until you’ve had some successes, it’s easy to think ‘I can’t do that, I can’t say that, businesspeople don’t do these things.’ It’s ok to make some choices that feel on the margins.”

Conscious Company Media is a female-founded company that compiled the Top 30 list to bring awareness to female thought leaders, investors, CEOs, intrapreneurs and social entrepreneurs.

Jess Baker

Jess Baker walked into a beer fest in 2010 and realized beer had come a long way from what her dad had been drinking since the 70s. She served as editor-in-chief of CraftBeer.com from spring 2016 to spring 2020, bringing you stories about the people who are the heartbeat behind U.S. craft brewing. She's a runner, a die-hard Springsteen fan, a mom who is always scouting family-friendly breweries, and always in search of a darn good porter.

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