Fred Tibbitts, Jr.

Fred Tibbitts Jr., grew-up in his family's wholesale food business in Albany, New York, moving to NYC in October of 1974 to find fame and fortune in the foodservice business. He joined Joseph E. Seagram & Sons as a Regional Manager for National Accounts in June of 1979 and was promoted to Director of Sales-East, National Account Sales when the department was expanded. In February of 1990, he was named Director of National Accounts for Kobrand Corporation. In April of 1992, he founded his own National Accounts consulting agency which he took global in September of 1998. Today, Fred’s company, “FTA” is the only independent, global National Accounts Agency focusing on adult beverage and related products and services. Fred is the wine consultant to chain hotels and restaurants worldwide; he writes the wine column for recognized hotel and restaurant industry periodicals in the United States and Asia Pacific and he is a regular lecturer at hospitality schools worldwide; he is considered a China expert and his academic papers are to be found in numerous academic journals, the most recent being "The Implications of the Dramatic Expansion of Chain Hotels and Restaurants in China" in the October 2003 issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research. FTA produces annual, brand and relationship building dinners in the spring and fall in New York City and also in Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. By 2011, FTA will be producing seventeen annual FTA dinners on every continent (except Antarctica) from New York to Hong Kong to Paris to Sydney to Buenos Aires to Cape Town. Fred is a member of numerous industry, university and hereditary advisory boards, including the University of Delaware’s Department of HRIM.

Fred has just been named an Honorary Fellow for the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.