Liquor Profits Will Seed New Nonprofit Focused on Equity Issues In St. Louis
It was fall 2014, and Sue McCollum was about to come out on top of the sort of landmark case that lawyers dream of winning. The thing is, she wasn’t even a lawyer yet.
At the age of 49, McCollum started law school at Washington University. But two years later, her husband, Todd Epsten, died of brain cancer. Epsten was the CEO of Major Brands, one of the top liquor distributors in Missouri, and McCollum, just a couple years into law school, would take over the company. Soon, she would get a real-life introduction to the law.
One of the top liquor producers in the country, Diageo North America Inc., pulled about half of Major Brands business from it in 2013. McCollum sued, arguing the move was in violation of Missouri’s liquor franchise laws. Then she did battle with the company in the Missouri Capitol as it tried to get the laws changed even as the lawsuit was going on.
McCollum won, forcing Diageo to pay a massive settlement. Near the end of the battle, taking on some of the titans in a male-dominated liquor business, one of those titans referred to McCollum as a “clever little girl.”
He didn’t mean it as a compliment.
Six years later, McCollum hopes to turn the phrase into a household name in St. Louis.
After graduating law school, conquering the liquor business, and keeping Major Brands as an industry leader, McCollum is starting a new phase of her life. Now 58, she’s selling her ownership stake in Major Brands to the Wirtz family, the company’s other largest investor, and taking her proceeds to start a nonprofit foundation to work on equity and social justice issues in St. Louis.
The nonprofit will be named Clever Little Girl Foundation.
McCollum is staying on as CEO at Major Brands and expects no changes at the company. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)