In-House & Industry
News Bulletin

Robert Lipman Receives Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America Lifetime Achievement Award

Las Vegas (April 11, 2008 ) – Industry visionaries Robert Lipman and Michel Roux are the winners of the two major awards bestowed by the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) at its annual convention Wednesday.

Lipman, of Lipman Bros. Company in Nashville, picked up the WSWA Lifetime Leadership Award, given annually to the wholesaler who displays exemplary characteristics both in business and community work, and who contributes to the overall good of the industry. While announcing the winner—kept secret until the convention General Business Session—WSWA President and CEO Craig Wolf particularly extolled Lipman’s strong leadership as a WSWA board member and former chairman.

“I’m obviously surprised and overwhelmed,” said Lipman in accepting the award. “I’d like to thank you all for allowing me to be a part of this fine industry.”

Michel Roux of Crillon Importers was announced as the first-ever recipient of WSWA’s Sidney Frank Award. The honor was created by the WSWA Educational Foundation thanks to a generous grant from the Sidney Frank Importing Company. A $10,000 contribution will be made to the charitable cause of Mr. Roux’s choosing.

Roux was a natural choice as the first honoree, said WSWA Chairman Jack Goldenberg, because of his high-profile contributions to the industry as creator of the iconic Absolut advertising campaigns of the 80’s and 90’s. Goldenberg said that achievement, coupled with Roux’s well-documented charity work on behalf of causes such as child abuse, gives Roux the ideal balance of business savvy and philanthropic conscience—characteristic of the late, great Sidney Frank himself.

Accepting the award on Roux’s behalf as he recovers from heart surgery, Crillon Importers Senior Vice President Jim Nikola said: “Frankly, we’ve long been puzzled at the lack of recognition for Michel because of all the obviously great things he’s done. We looked at him like he was crazy when he said he wanted to launch seven kinds of flavored vodka, but he essentially created that genre of products. We looked at him like he was crazy when he said he wanted to bring absinthe back to the U.S., but two years later we launched the first absinthe product here since 1912. …This kind of recognition has been a long time coming for a great and visionary man I’m privileged to work with, and I want to thank WSWA.”

The two awards complemented a successful and well-attended General Business Session that also featured speeches by Wolf, Goldenberg, Bacardi USA President John Esposito and former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. Full versions of Wolf and Goldenberg’s addresses can be found at WSWA.org.