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Sept. 21, 2006
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Leinenkugel believes there’s room
for faith in beer business |
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Name: Dick Leinenkugel
Age: 48
Occupation: Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Leinenkugel Brewing Company
Parish: Good Shepherd, Menomonee Falls
Book recently read: “One Bullet Away” by Nathaniel Fick
Favorite movies: “The Hunt for Red October” and “A Few Good Men”
Favorite quotation: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.” – Vince Lombardi (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero) |
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Brewing beer and Catholicism may not seem to go hand in hand. In Dick Leinenkugel’s life, he’s always felt connected to the two.
Born as the fifth generation of Leinenkugel beer brewers in Chippewa Falls, in the La Crosse Diocese, Leinenkugel has fond memories of attending catechetical classes at Notre Dame Parish in Chippewa Falls.
Now the brewery’s vice president of sales and marketing, the guy with the famous last name started giving tours of the brewery when he was 17. He said he has worked in just about every area of the brewery, including bottling, answering customers’ letters, stapling boxes of beer closed, and delivering.
Leinenkugel attended Marquette University, and insisted on funding his higher education himself. The only way he felt he could do that was by joining Marquette’s ROTC program, a division of the Marine Corps.
Upon graduation, Leinenkugel spent four years in the Marine Corps. For a time he was stationed in Hawaii. While there, he met Jean, his future wife. Ironically, she was from Eau Claire.
“We grew up 13 miles apart and met 3,000 miles from home,” he said.
During his stint with the Marines, Leinenkugel served as a lay minister while on board their ship.
“Each ship had a lay minister who could give consecrated bread and hold service while sailing,” he said. “I volunteered and received training from the chaplain. I acted as the Catholic lead on board. If anyone needed to talk about their faith or had questions, you were the person. That was enriching.”
Now married with three children, Jeffrey, 19, and 16-year-old twins, Katie and Lindsay, the family belongs to Good Shepherd in Menomonee Falls.
One of the things that drew the family to Good Shepherd is its emphasis on social justice and service to others, according to Leinenkugel.
“We’re so blessed and fortunate with health, quality education, a nice home; we’re blessed to belong to a Catholic parish, but it’s all about service to the less fortunate. What I’m trying to instill in our children is that we’re so fortunate that we have to have options for the less fortunate.”
Leinenkugel also feels there is room for faith in the beer business.
“Catholic faith is very important to me,” he said. “First of all, it’s part of my DNA and guides what I do. Yet I’m realistic that as a businessperson, your primary goal is to increase shareholder value. We’re not a not-for-profit. I don’t think profit is a bad word. It’s our profit that allows us to hire, train and promote our employees and provide them with a better quality of life.
“I also think of the product we’re producing – beer. It’s been around 6,000 years; there are ancient recipes in Mesopotamia. It may not have been called beer, but it was around at the time of Christ,” he said.
This fifth generation brewer also feels his beer provides more than a good time.
“It’s a great product shared responsibly by millions,” he said. “It’s a beverage of moderation, but there’s also a social aspect. It’s a beverage of family gatherings. There’s nothing better, I think, than saying, ‘Would you like to come over for a beer?’
“Our product provides faith opportunities in that it’s a social opportunity. As a Catholic and a businessman, my goal is to market the product responsibly. We don’t market to those underage and we train servers not to over serve,” he explained.
With a notable last name, Leinenkugel feels he’s carrying on a legacy when he goes to work in the morning.
“It makes retailers feel good to see someone with the name on the bottle who’s out there and cares about the product,” said Leinenkugel. “We’re carrying out the legacy of my great-great grandfather and representing the family and family name.”
Leinenkugel also strives to pass his faith to his children. He encourages them to get involved at Good Shepherd, and relishes the fact that they have attended work camps with the parish.
“Our kids participate in that every year,” he said. “They raise the money to go. It’s not so much about fixing houses, but they come back transformed and it exposes them to a whole other world.”
Leinenkugel credits his faith for also putting his job into perspective.
“It helps me to realize that my job is simply that – a job,” he said. “I think it helps ground me in reality. While the decisions I make are important to our business, and I don’t take them lightly, I realize there’s something bigger out there. It’s bigger than me and it’s bigger than our business.” |
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