Julie Verratti is a Founder and the Chief Brand Officer at Denizens Brewing Co., which opened its doors in 2014. They have two brewpubs and distribute their beer across Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Prior to co-founding Denizens Julie worked in advocacy, politics, and the federal government in both the executive and legislative branch. In 2021, Julie stepped away from Denizens and the beer industry to serve as the politically appointed Associate Administrator of Field Operations at the US Small Business Administration. Julie was responsible for overseeing 78 field offices across the country to directly implement COVID-19 economic recovery programs for small businesses.
Julie served as an elected Brewpub representative on the Board of Directors for the Brewer’s Association from 2018-2021 and she was the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and a member of the PAC Committee. She was also the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Brewers Association of Maryland from 2017 - 2021. Julie is active in local economic development efforts through serving on Chamber of Commerce and non-profit committees and organizations. In 2016, she was named to the Washington Business Journal's "Top 40 Under 40", in 2019 she was named the Business Advocate of the year by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, and in 2020 she was named the Beer Champion of the Year by Brewbound for her tireless advocacy for the food and beverage industry in the aftermath of COVID-19.
Julie has testified before the U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, the Maryland State Legislature, Montgomery County Council and DC Council on matters impacting small businesses generally, the beer industry specifically, and LGBTQ rights. In 2018 she unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of Maryland in the Democratic Primary as the running mate of Tech Entrepreneur, Alec Ross. She has been featured in the Forbes Magazine, Time Magazine, the Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, NPR, WAMU, and WTOP. Julie directs all business development and distribution sales for Denizens Brewing Co. Julie was a varsity collegiate athlete and earned her bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University, where she triple-majored in Politics, History, and Philosophy and minored in Economics. She earned her law degree from the George Washington University Law School. Julie still plays soccer on the weekends and plays golf whenever the weather and her schedule permits. The best decision she ever made was to jump into the beer business.