Chad worked as an aviator, trainer, and aviation leader in the military and civilian aviation industries for over 25 years. He has extensive knowledge of airline certification, operations, training, risk management, regulatory compliance, safety, manual system development, and project management. After graduating from Drexel University with a Master's Degree in Business Administration, he realized he wanted to create and run a profitable business during his studies for the degree. Chad had always had a keen interest in agriculture, so he and his wife thought about beginning a vineyard. Craft distillation was presented to them when they began their investigation in 2012. They were immediately enthralled by the prospect of establishing a distillery dedicated to manufacturing spirits from grain to glass. He is the founder and CEO of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, where spirits are made using select grains and fruits cultivated responsibly on their farm in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

Give us your origin story and tell us about yourself, who are you as a person, what you like.

I was born in Charleston, S.C., and was an only child. My father built power plants. Those usually took about 2 to 3 years to make, so we moved all over the U.S. growing up. At 19, I joined the Army and went to Flight School when I was 24. I retired from the Army in 2015 after 25 years of service. Moving every couple of years throughout my life gave me a great appreciation for the diversity of our country in geological terms, as well as culture, food, music, etc. While I don't have deep roots, I certainly have broad ones, and there is not a place in the country that I go to without being too far away from a familiar friend.

You did 25 years of experience as an aviator, trainer, and aviation leader in both the military and civilian aviation industry - what sessions did you learn that you are applying in your business life.

I learned how to deal with adversity. I learned how to be a leader and a follower. I learned about the value of being solution-oriented. I learned how to take constructive criticism and give it with grace. I learned how important it is to take care of your team members. I learned how important it is to trust and to be trusted. I learned how to listen. Finally, I learned how to make decisions based on analyzing the data and just simple intuition. Most importantly, I learned how precious family is. I spent a lot of time away from mine and missed a lot of special events. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I learned to appreciate what I have because I have lived without it.

What drew you to the military?

I wanted to learn to fly and couldn't afford to do it independently.

Define a good leader as per you?

A good leader is a person who knows themselves and their team and takes responsibility for them. They can develop solutions to problems and communicate them clearly to accomplish the mission. They professionally develop their team to execute in the leader's absence.

Resilience and grit: give us 2 examples and how you handled them.

One example was when the Pandemic kicked off in early 2020. It created mass uncertainty. However, with a clear sense of purpose, our team developed the solution of making hand sanitizer to help our community while keeping our crew safely employed. I believe we were the first distillery to take action. We started thinking that we would only produce a few hundred gallons of sanitizer and ended up producing over 30,000 gallons. 

The other example is much more personal. We started this company because, in 2012, my wife was diagnosed with Stage III Colorectal Cancer. When she was going through chemo, radiation, and surgery, we had time to sit down and talk about what was truly important to us. We made a list of what we thought it would take to make us exceptionally happy:

1. Start a family business that we could hand off to our adult children,
2. Do something that is agriculturally related,
3. Work with friends and family every day,
4. Be home together every night,
5. Have fun doing it.

[[relatedPurchasesItems-31]]

That was the moment we started down the road of starting a distillery. Her resolve, grit, and grace inspired me to start this business. Even today, almost ten years later, she continues to actively fight this disease with treatments every few months. She is the epitome of resilience and grit.

You say you discovered your purpose and that’s why you started your distillery, explain that, and what is your purpose that motivates you to go to work every day?

The purpose of our company is at the heart of everything we do is our commitment to helping make our community a better place. That purpose is what drives every decision we make.

What are the challenges you faced when you were starting your own distillery? Give us your story of the first 12 months, Assembling a team to get started.

The biggest challenge, of course, is just the unknown at that time. You go into something like this thinking that an entrepreneur is this visionary person that has an idea and makes it a reality. While there is certainly some truth to that, what I learned is it takes a whole lot of people coming together to help make it happen. There are bankers, lawyers, insurance agents, electricians, government officials, accountants, plumbers, and countless others who need to see the vision and bring their expertise to the table. So it is all about assembling the right people doing the right things at the right time. 

How did you go about hiring your first core team? Why did you hire your first 3-4 people and what did you look for in them?

The first few people were trusted family members. At the time, we needed people who understood the vision, acknowledged the risk and were willing to do anything that needed to be done, all while not getting paid for a significant amount of time. 

Walk us over your day-to-day role.

I'm responsible for taking care of our crew and helping them fulfill our purpose.

What that looked like today:

Today started with coordinating a project to build our quality management system. Reviewed sales metrics, coordinating a meeting with a trade industry president. Written a template for SOPs and an operations plan for the year and coordinated with our CBO for a magazine photoshoot. Submitted supporting documents to renew a trademark, worked with a bottle designer for a custom bottle project and updated our leadership team with current priorities. Also, put together information for an interview and finally wrapped up some random admin duties. 

The story behind Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, talk to me about your distillery and brands.

We are a veteran-owned farm distillery. We grow our grain with the help of our friends at Newhard Farms, and we craft them into award-winning spirits. We focus on Bourbon, Rye Whiskey, and Applejack and craft other products like Vodka, Gin, Rum, and our version of tequila.

Where next? What’s your plan for 2022-2023?

Become Pennsylvania’s Distillery of Choice for Craft Spirits.

What is your idea of a good life?

Be a reliable friend and leave the earth better than you found it.