This year, White Labs reached a major milestone, celebrating three decades in business as a supplier of yeast for fermented beverage production. Based in Miramar, the company has built a vast worldwide client base, servicing breweries, wineries and spirit producers from a trio of locations that includes an East Coast base of operations in Asheville, North Carolina, as well as a European outpost in Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s a sizable operation that, to date, has been spearheaded by the same individual, namesake founder Dr. Chris White.
White started propagating and providing yeast to a handful of Southern California brewers while attending the University of California, San Diego in the early nineties. He was well ahead of the modern-day craft beer renaissance, but was still able to see a future putting his extensive biochemistry background to use doing something he loved and supporting a fledgling industry that, to his elation, went on to become something both special and significant. White Labs followed suit, going from a small company of around 15 employees tucked in the back of a Trade Street office building to a multinational employer of nearly 100 and arguably the most well-known organization of its type in the world.
White openly acknowledges that he could not have gotten the company where it was on his own and touts the talents and accomplishments of dedicated employees who have treated White Labs as if it were their own company, exhibiting care and enthusiasm in advancing and growing it. One such individual is Neva Parker, who has worked at White Labs for over two decades and directed the company’s operations for the past 10 years. Well known to the point of synonymity within industry circles, Parker has been a driving force, managing expansions, establishing an analytical lab and developing yeast education programs, while heading Six Sigma efforts and playing a key role in building effective teams in myriad areas of the company.
White has served as President and CEO over the entirety of his company’s lifespan, but recently decided to relinquish the former role. This will allow him to focus more of his attention on his CEO duties, which include long-range strategy, business development and client interface. When deciding who was most ideally suited to serve as White Labs’ new president, he says it was an easy choice, and moved quickly to appoint Parker.
“Neva has grown with the company for 22 years. She started out in the lab, then moved into management, before becoming our Vice President of Operations,” says White. “It’s not just the 22 years that makes Neva so qualified for her new position. It’s also her demonstrated dedication to learning every new responsibility, every new staff member and every new customer. We collaborate very well, and I look forward to seeing how her fresh perspective and decision-making will help us keep pace with the everchanging craft beer industry.”
Parker graduated from Gonzaga University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 2001. She had planned on going to medical school, going so far as to take her MCATs and pursue admissions to universities. It was during that process she determined that the healthcare industry wasn’t a good fit for her. After moving to San Diego in 2002, she began exploring employment opportunities in the city’s thriving biotech industry. To help bolster her résumé, she worked with a scientific staffing agency, which set up an interview for her at a small company called White Labs.
“I actually had no idea who they were or what they did, and this was during a time when the internet was not very robust,” says Parker. “When I got there, Chris was sitting at the front desk because they were in between office managers. We made small talk and I asked what the company did. He explained they grew yeast for beer fermentation, and I immediately perked up because I really enjoyed beer and wine. During my undergrad, my research project for my Microbiology final was testing the alcohol tolerance of various commercially available yeast types in fermentation. I also studied abroad in London, where I gained an appreciation for ‘real beer’ and attended the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ales) beer festival.”
Parker started out doing bench work as a lab tech before being promoted to Lab Manager, then Head of Laboratory Operations, where she managed yeast operations and expanded White Labs’ analytical services offerings. The latter eventually spun off into its own department and revenue stream. As VP of Operations, she has overseen lab facilities, yeast production, logistics and expansion projects. In her new role, she will focus on running day-to-day operation of the business, while maintaining product excellence, company sustainability and market share. She also plans to establish a Customer Advisory Board made up of industry leaders who will come together to share ideas and insights in an effort to help shape the future of fermentation.
“I am really excited to get started,” says Parker. “I am beyond honored and grateful for this opportunity. I feel like I’ve done almost every job here at one point or another, and those years of experience have prepared me for this next step.”
White Labs is located at 9495 Candida Street in Miramar