Bennett Caplan - President
Bennett Caplan has served as President of Abridge™ for over 15 years. He has worked in the alcohol beverage sector for thirty years – as a partner in an international law firm, an executive focusing on alcohol beverage matters in corporate life, and as head of a global wine and spirits association. From 2003-2023, Bennett served as the Head of Secretariat of FIVS, a nongovernmental organization fostering collaboration on public policy matters, whose members collectively represent about 75% of the major wine producing countries. An attorney and government affairs specialist with extensive experience in public policy and regulatory matters regarding the alcohol beverage industry, he was previously Senior Director of International and Government Affairs at Allied Domecq, Director of Policy Development at Seagram, and a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery. He serves on the board of the AIDV - International Wine Law Society, whose 350+ members from 30 countries consider legal questions affecting wine production and trade. Bennett has served as President of the Washington Foreign Law Society and as Vice President of the Washington Fletcher Alumni Association. He has taught graduate-level courses on international trade policy at the University of Maryland and Syracuse University. Bennett is a graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University; the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University; and Boston College Law School.
|
Laurel Parker - Vice President of Operations
Laurel Parker serves as Vice President of Operations at Abridge™, where she works on international alcohol regulatory and trade agreement matters, providing guidance on international trade policy and compliance matters in the global alcohol beverage sector. Laurel has experience in the global alcohol beverage sector spanning the past decade, having advised European wineries on customs requirements, and developed strategies for companies entering the U.S. market. She works closely with international producer and government regulators from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Wine Regulatory Forum, the International Wine Technical Summit (IWTS), and the World Wine Trade Group (WWTG). Laurel is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, where she studied international trade and Spanish, receiving a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, and of the George Washington University School of Law. She has received a diploma from the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, focusing on trademarks and geographical indications for wine and spirits. She has also received the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 2 Award in Spirits (With Distinction) and in Wine (With Distinction). Laurel is a contributing reviewer to Jus Vini, the Journal of Wine & Spirits Law, which promotes legal scholarship in the field of wine and spirits law.
|
Ann Satchwill – Managing Director
Ann Satchwill is Managing Director at Abridge™, where she handles administrative tasks and communications, and conducts research on regulations, trade agreements, and taxation for inclusion in the database. Ann served previously as executive director of a U.S. 501(c)(3) organization that supports the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa, a nonprofit law firm that began its work by challenging apartheid through the courts and became a training ground for public interest lawyers. Before that, she served as a legislative aide to a member of the U.S. Congress, supporting that Member’s work on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Helsinki Commission, and as an assistant to the president of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Ann attended Wellesley College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
|
|
|