My guests are Tony Russo, Michael McKeon and Michael Correra, and the subject is, “Wine and Spirits, Who Should Sell it and Why!”
We'll explore the following questions:

1) Small local business vs. national chains
2) Local diversity vs. potential monopoly
3) Safety: traffic, underage drinking
4) Service for the consumer
5) Level playing field for business competition
6) Selection of product, who can provide more choice for the consumer

    

Host: Richard J. Garfunkel


   Tony Russo of Aries Wine and Spirits

Tony Russo has been a wine retailer for over twenty-five years in White Plains and the Bronx.  He has long been active in his White Plains community, supporting numerous philanthropic and not-for-profit organizations throughout Westchester County.  As a former educator in the Yonkers school system, and as an adjunct professor at Westchester Community College, he is always aware of the role the wine and liquor industry plays in protecting our underage children from the unsafe sale of alcoholic beverages.  Mr. Russo has close contacts with the law enforcement community in his area, and has served on the White Plains Public Safety Advisory Board and the Westchester County Italian American Advisory Board.  Mr. Russo has also served on the Executive Board of the Metropolitan Package Store Association, an industry group of over four hundred wine and liquor stores throughout the New York metropolitan area.  In 2006, he was selected by Brown Forman Distillers as the “Retailer of the Year”.

Michael Correra is the owner of Michael Towne Wine Liquors in Brooklyn Heights for the past 15 years. He has an M.B.A. in Business from Wagner College. For the last two years, Michael has been the executive director of the Metropolitan Package Association, a 400 store trade conglomerate for NY wine and liquor retail that has existed since repeal and remains the largest throughout the state. You can access additional information at the Metro Package Store Association website.
 
Michael McKeon is a Partner of Mercury Communication LLC, His experience in government, politics and journalism gives him a unique understanding of how the news media frames current events and opinions. This understanding reflects more than 10 years working as a reporter for three New York newspapers and winning several awards for local and political reporting. Recently, Mike served as a member of the distinguished panel of judges for the International World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition which selected the memorial for Ground Zero. Mike also served as chief spokesman and a top strategist for Governor Pataki's successful 2002 re-election campaign. Prior to joining Mercury, Mike served as New York Governor George Pataki's Director of Communications. In that role, he advised Governor Pataki on major policy and strategic decisions. Prior to that, Mike served as Press Secretary to the Governor, overseeing the daily communication operations of the Governor's office and all state agencies and authorities. He directed more than 100 communications professionals throughout State government to ensure a consistent presentation of the Governor's agenda. Mike is a graduate of Utica College of Syracuse University, he has three children and lives in Kinderhook, NY.       

           

Download | Duration: 00:51:54