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Patrick T. Delaney, a 25-year veteran of Utah's hospitality and alcoholic beverage industry, has been selected to lead Vermont's state liquor agency.
Delaney's appointment as liquor commissioner was announced earlier this week by the Vermont Department of Liquor Control and its liquor control board. Delaney and his wife, Christy, will move to Montpelier where Delaney will start his new job on Feb. 1.
"Twenty-five years of experience with the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has given me a broad understanding of the industry, from purchasing and receiving to distribution and sales," said Delaney, who successfully ran his own liquor brokerage company, Phoenix Wine & Spirit, which became the largest wine brokerage in Utah.
In 2013, Southern Wine and Spirits, the nation's largest wine and spirits distributor, acquired Phoenix, but retained Delaney as its Utah portfolio manager.
While Delaney's appointment may be good news for the Green Mountain State, it's an opportunity lost for Utah, says former DABC employee Brett Clifford. Clifford and many other critics of the state liquor agency wanted Delaney — or someone outside the DABC central offices — to be appointed as the new deputy director of the DABC.
Delaney said he applied for the job and received an interview with DABC Director Sal Petilos and Gov. Gary Herbert's staff.
In late December, however, the DABC announced it was promoting one of its managers, Cade Meier, to the position. Meier, who has worked at the DABC as an information technology project manager and a warehouse general manager, replaced Tom Zdunich, who retired in August.
As the department's second in command, Meier directs and oversees the day-to-day operations of the DABC, which has been under fire for its low employee salaries and high turnover rate, as well as a new ordering system that causes some stores to run out of product.
Meier was a "safe" choice, said Clifford.
"This is very much a missed opportunity for Utah as [Patrick] is so intimately familiar with the problems in our system and KNOWS how to fix them," Clifford wrote in an email to Mike Mower, the governor's chief of staff upon hearing of Delaney's Vermont appointment.
"There is an inherent fear in state government regarding input and representation of individuals in the liquor industry on the DABC that is quite unique considering all the other businesses we regulate, with legislators and commissioners that have similar so-called 'conflicts of interest,'" he wrote in the email. "Industry deserves a 'voice' in the process. They are not the enemy, but a partner."
Delaney has no hard feelings about not getting the Utah job.
"In retrospect, the most desirable position became available to me," he said.
Born and raised in Seattle, Delaney graduated from Washington State University with a degree in hotel and restaurant administration. He worked in various food and beverage management positions, including posts at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel & Towers and Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, which brought him to Utah.
While Vermont is considered a "control state" like Utah, the operations are significantly different, said Delaney. The Vermont Department of Liquor Control is in charge of wholesale and distribution of distilled spirits, only. It contracts with 80 agents who sell spirits through their retail stores. Wine and beer is sold in grocery stores.
In his new post, Delaney said he will pull from the positive aspects of the DABC operations, namely its use of technology and "generating sales and profitability data to make good business decisions."
"It will be helpful in my new role as we update some of Vermont's current operating systems," he said.