Partners:
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PARTNER
Dennis Black, MBA, is
the past President of the Sonoma
Grape Growers Association. He has
22 years in the consumer package
industry, having worked for Hershey’s
Chocolate, Campbell’s Soup,
Specialty Brands (Spice Islands,
Durkee Spices, Fleischmann Yeast)
as a National Senior Executive in
Sales and Marketing. His experience
includes marketing, contract negotiations,
budgets, and selling “top to
top.” Dennis is founder of
Octagon Group, a strategic business
planning, marketing and image building
company. He and his artist wife Mary
(www.maryblack.net)
own Black Emerald Vineyard (RRV-Sonoma
County) and sell their chardonnay
fruit to Sonoma Cutrer and Freeman
Winery. |
PARTNER
Steve Burns is well
known in the United States and the
international market for his contributions
as the Washington State Wine Commission's
Executive Director, during a six-year
period, when Washington became America’s
second largest wine producing state.
He was the International Marketing
Manager for the Wine Institute of
California prior to going to Washington.
Steve owns O’Donnell
Lane LLC, based in Sonoma County,
marketing, public relations and strategic
planning firm with prestigious and
who’s-who clients in Western
Australia, Italy, Washington State,
Oregon and California. |
PARTNER
George Christie is
the owner of Christie
Consulting, a company that specializes
in addressing the Operations, Sales
and Marketing needs of the small
to mid-size wine producer. He also
sits on the Board of Directors for
the Sonoma County Vintners and is
the past President of Winegrowers
of Dry Creek Valley and the Russian
River Wine Road. George has worked
with many different size producers
from small brands like Alderbrook
Vineyards & Winery as General
Manager to large family owned wine
companies like Korbel Champagne Cellars
and The Terlato Wine Group. He has
also held key marketing positions,
Brand Manager and Trade Marketing
Manager for the Western half of the
United States at publicly held companies
Peak Wines International and Beam
Wine Estates. His well-rounded background,
wide industry relationships and ability
to overcome difficult challenges
have been the key reasons for the
early success of the Christie Consulting
Company. |
PARTNER
Kent Humphrey is
owner and winemaker for Eric Kent
Wine Cellars (www.erickentwines.com).
Decanter magazine says “One
to Watch” recently, awarding
4-stars to Kalen’s Big Boy
Blend Syrah. Formerly Co-founder,
Executive Creative Director and Chief
Operating Office for a McCann- Erickson
satellite agency serving their high
level of clients. Kent’s extensive
background in direct marketing, strategy
and business operations gives him
a unique perspective in working with
clients to build their business.
Kent is also co-owner of CK2 Strategic & Creative
Services, specializing in strategic
planning and brand development. |
PARTNER
Elizabeth Slater is
owner of InShort Direct Marketing
(www.inshortmarketing.com)
and is a marketing savant, internationally
recognized in the wine industry as
a seminar and workshop leader, speaker
and trainer. She teaches wine marketing
at Santa Rosa Junior College, and
Walla Walla Community College’s
Institute of Enology and Viticulture
in Washington State. Elizabeth writes
a regular marketing column for Vineyard &Winery
Management magazine, she is responsible
for the “Tasting Room Profitability
Conference and Trade Show” held
in Marin annually, and serves as
Public Relations Chair for the Sonoma
County Tourism Council. She was the
marketing guru behind Russian River
Wine Road-Sonoma County and for 13
years produced Passport to Dry Creek
Valley. Elizabeth consults on all
facets of creating and implementing
marketing and public relations programs
and strategies and her focus is on
marketing wines directly to the consumer. |
PARTNER
Barbara Stiling was
a founding partner and Senior Vice
President of what is now a McCann-Erickson
satellite agency. During her years
at this large and successful San
Francisco advertising agency, Barbara
worked with clients including Microsoft,
Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo Bank,
Starbucks, and Warner Brothers. Barbara
offers over 25 years in all aspects
of business-to- business and consumer
marketing, strategic planning and
creation of integrated marketing
programs across all channels and
media. Barbara and her husband Don
Stiling own Stiling Vineyard (RRV-Sonoma
County) and sell their pinot and
chardonnay fruit to Gary Farrell
Winery, Simi Winery, Eric Kent Wine
Cellars and Darioush Winery. Barbara
was recently elected to be a board
member of the Sonoma County Winegrape
Commission and chairs the marketing
committee. |
PARTNER
Colleen Teitgen (www.colleenteitgen.com)
is co-owner and art director for
CK2 Strategic & Creative Services,
specializing in corporate identity
and collateral design. Formerly Associate
Creative Director for a McCann-Erickson
satellite agency and their wide range
of clients. Colleen is also co-owner
and curator for Eric Kent Wine Cellars
(www.erickentwines.com),
a boutique winery celebrating Sonoma
County vineyard sources and featuring
emerging artists’ work on their
labels. They were recently recognized
as the #2 American Wine label in
the article “Top 10 American
Wine Labels” in the San Francisco
Chronicle. |
PARTNER
William Traverso
• Adjunct faculty member at
Santa Rosa Junior College teaching “Wines
and Wine Marketing”
• Member of Santa Rosa Junior
College’s Viticulture Advisory
Committee whose function is to oversee
curriculum in the areas of viticulture
and wine marketing
• Past member of Sonoma County
Harvest Fair board of directors
• Chairman
of the professional wine judging
• President
• Former director of the Santa
Rosa Downtown Association
• Member of the Board of Visitors
and Fellows-Viticulture and Enology
Department University of California
Davis
• Professional wine judge
• Annual travel to Italy in
association with food and wine tours
• Partner–The Octagon
Group
• Strategic
planning, marketing, and image building
• Third generation TRAVERSO’S
GOURMET FOOD AND WINE
• Wine buyer and consultant
• B.A. Political science and
secondary educational credential
from University of San Francisco |
PARTNER
Christine Martin
opened the marketing design studio,
Firefly Creative Company (www.fireflycompany.com),
in 2003 after four years at the
direct-marketing firm of Hamilton
Partners in Healdsburg, where
she designing national print
and Internet marketing campaigns
for Hewlett-Packard, Radio Shack
and other Fortune 100 companies.
Before that, she spent six years
as a designer, then art director
for the communications department
at Willamette University in Oregon.
Since Firefly opened, the seven-person
company has developed print and
online marketing materials for
J Vineyards & Winery, St.
Francis Winery, Skipstone Ranch,
Sausal Winery, Longboard Vineyards
and Joseph Phelps’ new
winery, Freestone Vineyards.
Firefly also works closely with
the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission,
Sonoma County Vintners, Russian
River Valley Winegrowers and
Alexander Valley Winegrowers.
Clients outside the wine industry
include Parkpoint Health Clubs,
Toby’s Family Foods and
Making it Big. |
PARTNER
Kenneth R. Churchill
has over 30 years of business development
and management experience as
CEO and founder of two successful
companies. In 1967, he founded
Daystar Energy Systems. He sold
the business in 1985 and in 1986
founded ACC Environmental Consultants
(www.accenv.com)
with his wife Susan. ACC become
one of the Bay Area’s largest
environmental consulting firms.
Planning for their early retirement,
Ken and Susan established an
Employee Stock Ownership Plan
at ACC, which enabled them to
successfully transition themselves
and start their own wine label,
Churchill Cellars (www.churchill-cellars.com)
to produce premium Pinot Noir
wine in the Russian River Valley
of Sonoma County. Ken joined
the Octagon Group to share his
expertise with ESOP’s and
provide exit strategy and ownership
transition planning and execution
for our clients. |
PARTNER
A veteran of the Technology Industry, Janet
Church was the
301st Microsoft employee. Ms.
Church was dedicated to launching
early products for MS-DOS
and Mac and creating some
of the first industry-wide
marketing programs. In 1986
Janet left Microsoft, to
create the technology marketing
firm Janet Church & Associates,
Inc. (JCA). She was President
and CEO of JCA for 16 years. Her
client’s included Microsoft,
Oracle, Intel, Dell, HP,
RealNetworks, COMPAQ, IBM,
Ziff-Davis, and Apple, to
name a few.
Ms. Church has served on the Boards
of several non-profit organizations
in the Seattle area including The
American Cancer Society, FilmAid
and the Northwest AIDS Foundation
and has assisted others with fundraising
efforts. She has also served
on the Grants in Aid Committee for
the City of Indian Wells, CA.
Janet Church is currently available
for strategic consulting with corporations
and non-profit organizations. Janet
is also available for speaking opportunities
on marketing, leadership and empowering
women-in-business.
She specializes in:
- Strategic Corporate Marketing
- Product Strategy
- Communications Strategy
- Marketing Program Design and
Implementation
- Partner and Sponsorship Development
Programs
- Executive Relations Programs
- Customer Relationship Marketing,
utilizing Janet’s CARE
(Customer Acquisition, Retention
and Expansion) Program concepts.
In 2004, Janet created Vivify Music
Inc (www.vivifymusic.com)
a record label, publishing, touring,
and music management company dedicated
to Jazz artists. In her spare-time,
she is a healthcare patient advocate
and spends time lobbying for greater
research on Autoimmune Diseases and
healthcare support for US residents. |
PARTNER
Eugene is currently a Professor of
Management at the University of San
Francisco School of Business and
Management. He is a frequent contributor
to San Francisco media outlets and
appears regularly on television and
radio programs covering the bay area
business scene.
Eugene has served as a “Consigliore” for
countless of family-held firms over
a twenty-five year period. He
has maintained an international client
base of family business owners with
a specialization on Pacific Rim and
United States enterprises.
His consulting services focus on the
key specialties:
- Values
Clarification Process
- Succession Planning for the Current
Generation of Owners
- Career Development/Coaching for
the Next Generation of Owners
- Family Business Retreat Planning
- Family Business Foundation Design
and Facilitation
He has extensive experience in partnering
with accountants, financial service
experts, lawyers and risk managers
at the earliest stages of strategic
and succession planning for multi-generational
family businesses.
In recent years he has gained a reputation
for providing triage services to
family business owners responding
to or hoping to avoid the tragic
effects of sudden death, disability,
divorce, debt or disaster.
Based in San Francisco, Eugene is
available for speaking as well as
consulting engagements worldwide.
Click
here to download Eugene Muscat's
biography. |
PARTNER
“True Creativity, is the ability to connect the seemingly unconnected”
Gary Finnan has over 20 years of experience in Destination Retail,
Architectural Design & the Project Management industry.
As the Founder & Principal of Gary Finnan Creative, Gary
utilizes his experiences gained in Africa, Europe and Asia, to bring a fresh
perspective to the unique destination environments our clients’ desire.
Gary Finnan Creative provides “Creative Facilitation.” We act as a catalyst in creating
the optimal project team that will give clients the tools to navigate the strategic
planning, development and implementation process for a host of project types within
the Destination Retail industry. Simply, we create and implement Destination
Environments.
There is an evolution currently underway in the world of Destination Wine Environments.
Vintners are discovering the dual advantage of coupling exquisite retail design solutions,
sitescape and architecture with an integrated destination marketing strategy,
authenticating the visitor experience. By creating winery environments that market with
a focus on the experience for the visitor, you provide brand recognition in the form of
architecture and interactive space, emphasizing the environment for the education,
production, and consumption of wine – we call this Marketecture.
Imagine it, turning vision into reality, bringing the collective concept together or just
agreeing on where to start and where to go, is a challenge all project teams or groups
and companies have.
Born in Scotland Gary was raised in Rhodesia and South Africa.
Gary relocated with his family from South Africa to Healdsburg California
in 1999 with his wife and two daughters.
Download GFC Winery Development 08 Project List pdf
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