Jim Koch

American businessman and founder of Boston beer company

Susan

(divorced)

Cynthia Fisher

(m. 1994)

Children4

Charles James Koch (/kʊk/ KUUK; born May 27, 1949)^[1]^[2]^[3] is an American entrepreneur, billionaire, and the co-founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company, the producers of Samuel Adams beer. Koch is widely considered to be a founding father of the American craft brewing movement.^[4]

Early life

Koch was born in Cincinnati on May 27, 1949,^[2] one of four children born to German-American parents Charles and Dorothy Koch (née Kautz).^[1] Charles was a fifth-generation brewer.^[2] Koch earned a Bachelor of Arts, Juris Doctor, and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.^[5]

Career

He is a former consultant with The Boston Consulting Group. He was formerly an Outward Bound instructor. In 1984, Koch co-founded the Boston Beer Company, the producers of Samuel Adams beer.^[6]

Koch took Boston Beer company public in 1995 and owns a 19.5% stake in the company, giving him a net-worth of over $1 billion. In 2023 he was ranked #1905 in Forbes Billionaires 2023.^[4]

In 2016, Koch published Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two, in which he discussed how he left his career as a management consultant to start his own brewery using his great-great-grandfather's recipe.^[7]

In August 2018, Koch said the corporate tax cut of 2017 helped to play a major role in making Boston Beer Company more competitive in regard to foreign competitors. Koch stated that "When I started Sam Adams, American beer was a joke, and it pissed me off. And now, American brewers make the best beer in the world. And the tax reform was a very big deal for all of us, because 85 percent of the beer made in the United States is owned by foreign companies."^[8]^[9]

Personal life

Koch's marriage to his first wife, Susan, ended around the time he started the Boston Beer Company.^[10]^[11] He remarried to entrepreneur Cynthia Fisher in 1994.^[12]^[5] He has two children from his first marriage and two from his second.^[13] They live in Newton, Massachusetts.^[14]^[15]

Koch is unrelated to Stone Brewing Co. cofounder Greg Koch.^[16]

Works cited

Koch, James (2016). Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two. New York: Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1-250-07050-0. LCCN 2015046334.

References

^ ^a ^b The Boston Beer Company (June 15, 2011). "Charles Koch, Director of The Boston Beer Company Dies at 88" (Press release). PR Newswire. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Brooks, Jay R. "The Oxford Companion to Beer definition of Koch, Jim". Craft Beer & Brewing. Retrieved October 8, 2022. Jim Koch was born in Cincinnati in 1949...
^ Brooks, Jay (May 27, 2022). "Beer Birthday: Jim Koch". Brookston Beer Bulletin. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Jim Koch". Forbes. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Story Details - Alumni - Harvard Business School". May 11, 2017.
^ "People: Boston Beer Company Inc (SAM)". Reuters. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
^ BRAHAM, DAVID (September 28, 2017). "BOOK REVIEWS: QUENCH YOUR THIRST, DISTILLED, THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF FAMILY WEALTH". campdenFB. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
^ "Remarks by President Trump Before Dinner with Business Leaders". whitehouse.gov. August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2018 – via National Archives.
^ Andersen, Travis; Chesto, Jon (August 9, 2018). "Boston Beer boss tells Trump that tax cut helps his company 'kick ass'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
^ Koch 2016, p. 102: "My wife Susan and I split up as I was launching the company."
^ Gerber, Scott (October 21, 2015). "The Unlikely Sales Incentive That Launched Sam Adams Beer". Inc.com.
^ Koch 2016, p. 118: "My wife Cynthia (whom I had married in 1994 and was an entrepreneur herself)..."
^ "CNN.com - Career - Samuel Adams brewer Jim Koch: Beer career - March 16, 2001". www.cnn.com.
^ "Newton resident Jim Koch thanks Trump for lowering taxes | Village 14". August 8, 2018. Archived from the original on November 20, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
^ Williams, DeMarco. "Samuel Adams Founder Jim Koch Talks Beer And Boston". Forbes.
^ "Greg Koch". RateBeer. February 22, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2017.

Sources

"About Us". The Boston Beer Company. Archived from the original on November 10, 2006.
Cortese, Amy (December 5, 2008). "It's all about the beer, and independence". The New York Times.
Kesmodel, David (April 19, 2010). "Revolutionizing American beer". The Wall Street Journal.
Allen, Jamie (March 16, 2001). "Samuel Adams brewer Jim Koch: Beer career". CNN.com/Career. Archived from the original on May 3, 2001. Retrieved July 1, 2014.

Commissioners for the United States Semiquincentennial

Year of appointment in parentheses

Members
of Congress

Senate

Democrats	Bob Casey Jr. (2016) • Jeanne Shaheen (2016)

Republicans	Tom Cotton (2017) • Pat Toomey (2017)

House

Democrats	Dwight Evans (2019) • Bonnie Watson Coleman (2019)

Republicans	Robert Aderholt (2017) • María Elvira Salazar (2021)

Private
citizens

Senate

Democrats	David L. Cohen (2017) • Andrew Hohns (2017) • Rosa Gumataotao Rios (2018) • James L. Swanson (2017)

Republicans	Daniel DiLella (2017) • Cathy Gillespie (2017) • Lucas Morel (2017) • Thomas Walker, Jr. (2017)

House

Democrats	Bob Brady (2019) • Noah Griffin (2017) • Joe Crowley (2021) • 1 vacant

Republicans	Val Crofts (2017) • Jim Koch (2017) • Wilfred M. McClay (2017) • Lynn Forney Young (2017)

Non voting
ex officio

Continuous	Secretary of the Interior • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Secretary of Defense • Secretary of Education • Librarian of Congress • Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution • Archivist of the United States

Removed in 2020	Presiding officer of the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities

Added in 2020	Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts • Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities • Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services • Anthony Kennedy (as designated by the Chief Justice)

Former
(reappointments
italicized)

Bob Brady (2017–2019) • Joe Crowley (2017–2019) • Grant Hill (2017–2018) • George Holding (2018–2021) • Amy Gutmann (2017–2018) • Pat Meehan (2017–2018) • Heather Murren (2017–2018) • Richard Trumka (2017–2021)