Christine LoCascio

Chief of Policy, Strategy & Membership

Christine A. LoCascio serves as Chief of Policy, Strategy, and Membership at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), where she leads the Council’s public policy agenda on behalf of the U.S. spirits industry. Since joining DISCUS in 2001, she has been a driving force behind successful efforts to eliminate tariffs, improve market access in the U.S. and abroad, promote exports, support evidence-based policies, and grow revenue streams for the association.

Christine currently oversees key departments including International Relations, Membership, and Economic & Strategic Analysis, and a team of policy professionals. She also chairs multiple industry committees focused on policy, market development, statistics, supply chain, and sustainability. Chrisine also supervises the DISCUS Craft Advisory Council and DISCUS’s partnership with the USDA’s Market Access Program to promote American spirits exports.

A seasoned advocate and creative thinker, Christine has helped spearhead successful campaigns for the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, numerous Free Trade Agreements, and the “Toasts Not Tariffs” coalition. She currently chairs the U.S. Department of Commerce and USTR’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee for Consumer Goods (ITAC 4), providing expert policy input on U.S. agricultural trade.

Christine is a frequent lecturer on advocacy, public affairs, and the business side of trade associations. She serves on the Advisory Board for The Washington Campus, a non-profit, non-partisan, higher education association whose mission is to promote and support public affairs and public policy education for current and future organizational leaders. Christine is active in professional organizations including Women in Government Relations, Women in International Trade (WIIT) and the Washington International Trade Association (WITA).

Christine holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

A native of St. Louis, but a Washingtonian for 25+ years, Christine is an enthusiastic fan of the Cardinals and the Blues—and her go-to cocktails are the Manhattan, Mojito, and Gin & Tonic.