Bernie Fechtel
Bernard J. Fechtel was born in Jefferson City, Missouri to Charles H. and Kathryn M. Walsh Fechtel in 1958. He graduated from Helias High School in 1976 and Southwest Missouri State University in 1980 with a degree in Finance and General Business.
Mr. Fechtel and his wife, Sabrina Ann Lee, are proud parents of three children- Morgan, Andrew, and Maggie, the fourth generation of the Fechtel family to live and serve Central Missouri.
After growing up in the beer business, Fechtel joined Fechtel Beverage full time in 1980 as sales manager, and was promoted to general manager in 1983. Mr. and Mrs. Fechtel bought Fechtel Beverage in 1987 from his mother. Fechtel Beverage now distributes for nine domestic brewers and represents numerous importers and Craft Brewers in fourteen countries covering 6,500 square miles in Central Missouri.
He is active in both the Missouri Beer Wholesalers Association and the National Beer Wholesalers Association. Fechtel currently serves the MBWA on the governmental affairs committee and has previously served as its secretary, treasurer, vice-president, and president. He was active in forming a legal defense group within MBWA as well as a worker’s compensation insurance trust (MBWRMA) of which he currently serves as Chairman. Nationally, Fechtel was elected by the beer distributers of Missouri to represent them on the NBWA Board of Directors. Once in the association he was elected as region director and served as vice-chair of the education committee and chaired the convention and member services committee’s. After three consecutive terms on the NBWA Management Committee, he most recently served as the organizations Audit Committee chairman.
Fechtel served three terms on the St. Joseph Cathedral Parish Council; was an officer for the Home and School Association, and a founding board member of the St. Joseph Cathedral Parish Foundation. He is a member of the St. Joseph Parish Association, The Helias Council Knights of Columbus, and the Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree. He is a member of the Helias Booster Club and the Equestrian Order of the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher. He is a Board member of Columbia Insurance Group and serves on CIG’s Finance Committee and chairs the Compensation and Benefits Committee.
Regarding the community service, Fechtel has served the Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce as board member and later as the organization’s Board Chair and Chairman of the President’s Round Table. He is past chairman of the Economic Development Division and Jefferson City Civic Progress. He belongs to numerous civic and fraternal organizations throughout Central Missouri. Fechtel served on the interview committee for applicants requesting admission to the Military Colleges for the Honorable Ike Skelton and has participated in a civic leaders tour of U.S. Military Bases and the NORAD Space Command Center as a guest of Whiteman Air Force Base. He was also honored to participate in the Naval War Colleges leadership forum in Newport, Rhode Island. He has served as Board Chairman of the Samaritan Center, Jefferson City United Way, Jefferson City Council for Drug Free Youth, as well as board service to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Missouri, Jefferson City Rotary West and the Discover Jefferson City Foundation. Fechtel also serves on the Jefferson City YMCA Board of Trustees and the United Way Foundation. Fechtel successfully co-chaired the 2004-2005 and 2010-2011 United Way Community Campaigns with Mark Kaiser and Debbie Snyder and has co-chaired successful community wide initiatives that provided for more competitive pay structure for Jefferson City’s teachers and People for Parks and Progress, a citizens group that aided the city park system by providing more stable long range funding for the parks while offering tax relief to property owners.
Fechtel Beverage currently sponsors and funds the Sober Driver program for Jefferson City, a program that was first started by the Jaycees! Fechtel took the program year round in 1999 and has since provided over 20,000 cab rides and invested nearly a quarter of a million dollars in an effort to keep our citizens safe.