Jackie Bieman (formerly McAskill) is a product strategy leader and champion for start-ups and industry innovation in the beverage and controlled substance markets.
Prior to co-founding Sheesh Soda’s, Jackie was the Category Director at Hexo Corporation (one of Canada’s largest licensed producers at the time), where she oversaw edibles, dried flower and pre-rolls. Her introduction of nearly 100 products into the market took her categories from 5th to 1st place market share in under a year. She’s also spent time exploring white space areas of the industry, working on her book “chill – A Wine Lover’s Guide To Understanding Cannabis”.
Jackie brings over 18 years of industry-relevant experience to her businesses and clients. 11 years of this was as a senior buyer for the world’s largest beverage alcohol purchaser, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) where she launched brands such as Apothic, Tito’s Vodka and Meiomi into the Canadian retail space. Jackie honed her category management, marketing, and NPD strategy expertise at Unilever Canada and the Canadian Tire. In 2016 Jackie founded her own consulting company, BevPro Canada Inc., supporting new businesses launch into a congested beverage alcohol retail landscape successfully. During that time she also held the position of VP of LCBO relations for the Ontario Craft Distillers Association and taught in the post-graduate “Advanced Business Management – Alcoholic Beverages” program at Centennial College in Toronto and spent a summer teaching in Denmark at Aarhus University. In 2015 she was awarded the coveted Drinks Ontario Industry Partnership Award, granted to individuals with outstanding contribution to the industry.
Jackie holds a Bachelors Degree from Brock University, St. Catharine’s, and has completed executive development work at Wharton University of Pennsylvania Executive Education, Richard Ivey School of Business, and York University’s Schulich School of Business, along with numerous beverage industry specific courses.