Turning Tables Board

tina Dixon Williams

Board President

Tina Dixon is the President and Founder of The Jae Impact. She is a well sought-after professional with exemplary experience in coordinating and executing countless public and private events. Tina brings a wealth of knowledge and insight of engagement interactions to the company. She is an unflappable professional who adjusts to change and challenges as they are presented. Dixon is a seasoned event professional who has created and leads teams of contemporaries and volunteers alike. 

Rebecca Quiñonez - She / Her / Hers

Rebecca Quiñonez is passionate about brands and the people behind them. A global drinks industry expert with over 20 years of luxury experience working with iconic multicultural lifestyle brands focusing in both the agave and rum space . Rebecca has collaborated with distributor partners, creative marketing agencies, trade, hospitality, drinks experts and PR/media teams around the globe. Throughout her career at DIAGEO, where her journey began in 2004. Rebecca ventured through every level of the business industry to successfully develop and launch category leading brands. Based on her high performance, deep knowledge of culturally rich categories and effective commercial initiatives, Rebecca built a reputation for delivering authentic local, regional and global strategies that aided brands such as; Tequila Don Julio, Hennessy Cognac and Ron Zacapa to double digit growth in both developed and emerging markets within North America, Latin America and Asia. In 2017, Rebecca made the leap and leaned into her entrepreneurial instincts, married her dual passions for developing people and brands, and founded Q Consulting Firm. Since her journey as a consultant, Rebecca has developed the launch of products and categories in the luxury food, drinks, and cannabis industries. Q Consulting’s client portfolio include Carlsberg Beer, Foss Marai, Mijenta Tequila, Combs Enterprises, William Grant & Son’s and newly added internationally recognized, industry talent, “Maestro Cantinero'', Julio Cabrera has proven Rebecca’s expertise in delivering successful short and long term initiatives. In addition, she provides pro bono guidance and consulting for women and minorities.

Caitlin Scanlan

Chief Development Officer, Cafe Reconcile

Caitlin has served as a professional fundraiser for over 15 years and brings a background in Annual Fund development and Major Gifts.  Prior to joining Reconcile she served as Development Director at Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana, Habitat for Humanity Coastal Fairfield County, and East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity.  She is a past Board President and current Board Member for the New Orleans Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and was the association’s 2019 Outstanding Professional Fundraiser of the Year.

Lucia Creed

Lucia Creed is the Vice President of Marketing for Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey where she oversees the company's marketing, distributor training and trade education initiatives nationwide. She has over 25 years of experience in the Food and Beverage/Hospitality sectors including everything from bussing tables to managing national sales and marketing teams. She spent 15 years as a bartender and stays connected to the bartending community by serving as faculty and on the Advisory Board for BAR 5 Day, the preeminent source of systematic information on distilled spirits and mixology in the beverage alcohol industry.

Before joining the Uncle Nearest team, Lucia spent several years working in spirits education as the National Ambassador for Campari America’s Women and Whiskies program and later with Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal, strategizing, designing and executing experiential marketing events and educational programming. Upon Del Maguey’s merger with Pernod Ricard USA, she was promoted to Brand Leader and oversaw sales and marketing efforts for the brand in the U.S. as well as leading the national sales and marketing team and acting as liaison between Del Maguey and Pernod Ricard USA.

Lucia is a graduate of UC Berkeley and lives in Oakland, CA with her partner, dog and two children.

Tracie Franklin

Tracie Franklin is a whiskey educator, public speaker, consultant, and distiller who lives in Washington D.C. She uses her previous careers performance skills to share her knowledge for spirits around the world. She has been featured in numerous publications and on the small screen with the Today Show, CBS This Morning, and Fox 5 DC.


Tracie has traveled the globe to study with distillers, blenders, and has completed numerous spirits certifications including her Diploma in Distillation from the Institute of brewing and Distilling in London. As an educator, Tracie enjoys helping curious imbibers find a new appreciation for the vast and delicious world of spirits. She was the National Ambassador for Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch after years of representing whiskey brands like Ardbeg, Angel’s Envy, Johnnie Walker and more. She has presented her passionate style of education at events for Drexel University, Google, The Essence Festival, Peloton, and Charleston Food and Wine.

Her work creating diversity in the spirits industry has been recognized by Whisky Magazine as the 2020 Icon of Whisky award, she was a 2022 Imbibe Magazine Person to Watch, and she was inducted into the Dames Hall of Fame for making a lasting impact on the spirits industry. She is on the board for Sip of Paradise Garden which provides a healthy and supportive environment for hospitality workers and Our Whisky Foundation which empowers women who work in the whiskey industry. Follow her Spirited Adventures on IG @Spirited_Tracie.

Ranh Nuñez

Ranh Nuñez is a native New Orleanian with 20+ years of experience in the hospitality industry. Ranh began his professional career as a young busboy at a little Italian restaurant in his neighborhood years ago and has worked his way to being the New Orleans On Premise Manager for Mast-Jägermeister US. Ranh has also worked for RNDC and spent 8 years with Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse prior to his time with Jägermeister. He is passionate about empowering people in hospitality to find roles and experiences that help them grow. Ranh is a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. 

Adrian Mendez

President Ameritas Turning Tables

Owner Elysian Bar and Bacchanal

Adrian Mendez has a family business background in hospitality and extensive experience in launching, developing, and operating over fifteen private and public enterprises. He is currently the Director of Business and Strategy at Bacchanal Wine & The Elysian Bar, where he develops the operational strategy; identifies market opportunities for growth; leads the management team in daily operations and industry best practices for the hospitality group. Prior to joining Bacchanal, Adrian co-founded and was a senior executive and principal of a boutique management strategy firm, Caerus Management, with a focus on supporting the growth of small and medium size companies in the region. 

Prior to founding Caerus, Adrian attended Tulane’s Freeman Business School. Adrian supported the launch of a regional venture capital firm (OVC) and he led the Tulane Entrepreneurs Association (TEA) as the president. Before his MBA, Adrian was part of the education reform efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He worked as the Director of Operations for New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) for three years, and was deeply involved in the development and start-up of 15 charter schools across the city. In addition, he served as the Strategy Director at the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools (LAPCS), where he supported the political advocacy efforts to promote quality charters schools across the state of Louisiana. Adrian has served on several non-profit boards and philanthropic committees. He is fluent in French and Spanish, and has lived in four different countries. He received his BA from the University of Chicago, and his MBA from Tulane University.