Management, School of Business

An aprés ski tradition of a round of craft beer, and the inspiration of community support for the much-loved business that brewed it, led to a standout round of presentations for a Siena BUDV class.

Natasha Adams '06, MBA, teaching professor of management, and her family stop in at Common Roots Brewing Company in South Glens Falls after skiing at Gore Mountain. (They are long-time friends with the founders.) Like many Siena faculty, Adams is always on the lookout for opportunities to engage coursework with community needs. Over a pint, she realized that given its backstory, Common Roots would be an excellent candidate for an assist from Siena business students.  

She reached out to Daniel Robeson, Ph.D., associate professor of management, who agreed it would be perfect for his BUDV450 Organizational Strategy capstone honors course. 

The original Common Roots was gutted by a March 2019 fire. No fatalities or injuries, but their dream business of custom-brewed beer was left in ashes. The first thought of founder Bert Weber and his son Christian was not for their bottom line, but for how they could support their employees who were left without work. A GoFundMe page was immediately started by the community and with funds raised there and from some special events, the Webers were able to keep their employees on payroll while they operated in a temporary facility. 

They have since built a new facility that is triple the size of the one founded in 2015, capable of producing 12,000 barrels of craft brew each year. Moved by the support of their community, and with the surplus from the fundraising and their insurance payout, the Webers established the non-profit Common Roots Foundation in 2020 to keep paying it forward. Wife Robin Weber joined the operation, and the family was looking for a way to sustainably manage the foundation as a separate entity from the brewery. That where Siena’s BUDV450 class came in.   

“The strategies and tactics developed by the teams were very targeted and detailed, which impressed the client,” said Robeson. “The students were very confident, and understood thoroughly that this project was not pretend. Instead of climbing a practice rock wall, they were climbing an actual rock face.”

The class divided into teams to work, and at the end of the fall semester, headed up to the brewery to present their proposed strategies for the consideration of the Webers, as well as Keith Johnston ’11, Common Roots’ director of sales and operations. 

“I think I can speak for the entire team here at Common Roots when I say we were thoroughly impressed with the team presentations and the ideas they brought to the table,” said Bert Weber. “It was obvious to us that the students were well prepared. They all seemed very poised and comfortable with the language of business, which added to the over-all impact of each presentation.” 

Weber said the majority of recommendations the teams made were worthy of being put into immediate action by the foundation. 

“We continue to study the information that was presented that day and look for ways to incorporate them into our organization here at Common Roots. The students also made some interesting observations and recommendations for new marketing and revenue ideas for the brewery. These were especially interesting as the students represented a relatively new-to-the-market demographic for us to listen to!”

Robeson complimented Common Roots on the generosity of the time they gave the class.

“This kind of partnership can be challenging in terms of finding time to work together but everything went smoothly,” he said. “Common Roots’ future potential is just outstanding.”

Liam Hickey ’23 said the experience was “phenomenal.” 

“I have never presented in front of a CEO or members of an executive board for a company before and it was a feeling like no other,” he said. “Leading up to the presentation for Common Roots, Dr. Robeson always challenged us to do our best work, which led the class to be extremely prepared.”

He said the part of this project he enjoyed most was brainstorming ideas with his group members to determine the best recommendations based on Common Roots’ mission and vision statements, to determine what would make the most sense in terms of financial and non-financial aspects. 

Sabrina Krasner ’23 said collaborating with a local small business for academic purposes was a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

“With this hands-on experience, our team was able to offer business strategies that would further develop and grow the brewery and its not-for-profit,” she said. “This experience has given us the opportunity to see first-hand into the growing industry of microbreweries, and has inspired me to always think outside the box.” 

Madison Savage ’22 added that it was insightful to see and experience a real-life implementation of what was learned in BUDV, helping her realize the true importance of the content they learned in class. Kayla Bailey ’23 said the final presentations were “a great way to finish off BUDV,” and that she will definitely take with her the presenting and research skills she learned to her post-grad studies.

In case you’re wondering: yes, the over-21 members of the class were able to sample the fruits of Common Roots’ dedicated labors: a brewery tour and tasting hosted by the Webers was a favorite highlight of the class. 

Robeson, Adams and Paul Thurston, Ph.D., professor of management presented a case study of the class’s work at recent academic conference.