Wholesale Beer Association Executives

A brief history of WBAE (first written in 1966 and updated in 1971 and 1990) by P.J. Curtis (North Dakota) with the help of 'old timers' Tom Kelley, Ormand Foley, Ralph Gillett, and Lam Ahles.

The first meeting of 'NBWA Affiliated State Secretaries' was held at the Congress Hotel in Chicago, September 19-20, 1946. It might be noted that at this meeting Russell Hopkins represented NBWA and the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois. An interesting note: during those first years of the Secretaries Association only a President and Secretary-Treasurer would be elected, and then all the other Secretaries were elected Vice Presidents. Then back home, each Secretary would announce in their bulletin that they were elected Vice President of the Association.

National Association of State Beer Association Secretaries (NASBAS) was chosen as the first name of the Association. The name was changed in 1952 to State Beer Wholesalers Secretaries of America (SBWSA) and changed again in 1955 to Beer Distributor Secretaries of America (BDSA). The present name of our Association, Wholesale Beer Association Executives (WBAE) was adopted in 1977.