Built on The Rock: Gary Charmel, ’86

fter a 37-year career in the beverage distribution business, Gary Charmel is raising a glass of his favorite bourbon for a retirement toast. Charmel, a 1986 Slippery Rock University graduate, retired earlier this year as a regional president for Johnson Brothers, a $3 billion wine, beer, and spirits distributor with more than 4,000 employees.

Spending the last two decades in Las Vegas, Charmel oversaw distribution to restaurants, resorts, casinos and retailers in Johnson Brother’s West Region. Prior to that, he worked 15 years as a sales director for Gallo after getting his start in the industry as a sales manager at PepsiCo.

“It’s a fun business,” Charmel said. “There are more difficult things you can be doing than helping people celebrate life’s occasions with wine, spirits or beer. There’s the product aspect, the hospitality business, especially when you’re dealing with high-end restaurants and resorts in Las Vegas, but what I really enjoyed most is the relationships, mentoring and coaching and a lot that goes back to my sports background at Slippery Rock.”

Charmel played four years of football for The Rock under head coach Don Ault as a three-year all-conference offensive lineman. A native of Toms River, New Jersey, Charmel earned his degree from SRU in communication and entered the advertising business before he was hired by one of his clients, PepsiCo, leading to his career change.

“People gave me the opportunity to grow at Slippery Rock, whether that was the faculty or coaches,” Charmel said. “Football taught me that hard work does pay off, and, in the classroom, I learned that the world is your oyster if you’re willing to put the effort in and seek help from mentors. Especially in the communication program, I found my voice and I became a proficient writer and confident in public speaking.”

Even though he is retired, Charmel will continue to do consulting work and “lean into the coaching and mentoring on the executive level,” because that’s what he enjoys most.

He also enjoys giving back to SRU as an alumni donor.

“Now that I’m older and wiser, I realize a lot of who I am today is because people believed in me, not just from the things I did,” Charmel said. “Slippery Rock shaped me. I was a first-generation college student that came from a family that was blue collar and money was tight. That’s why I give. If you’ve had any measure of success, you should give because the baton has been passed to us now to be the ones who provide opportunities to younger folks and do the right thing.”

Instead of toasting to a successful career with a drink on the rocks, Charmel attributes his success to being at The Rock.