Born and raised in Calistoga, Corey Beck has more than 20 years of experience in the wine industry and now serves as president and director of winemaking for Francis Ford Coppola Winery. Upon earning his degree in fermentation science from the University of California, Davis, Beck served as Chateau Montelena’s cellar master for Cabernet Sauvignon, working with grapes his grandfather planted in the 1970s. He joined Inglenook (formerly Rubicon Estate, Niebaum-Coppola) in 1998 as assistant winemaker.

In 2006, the Coppola family purchased the historic Château Souverain property in Sonoma County and appointed Beck director of winemaking and general manager at what would become Francis Ford Coppola Winery. In 2013, he spearheaded the purchase of the former Geyser Peak facility and transformed that property into what is now Virginia Dare Winery. Beck was promoted president of The Family Coppola’s winegrowing endeavors in Sonoma County in 2014.

As a partner and director of business development for Top It Off Bottling in Napa, Calif., David Crawford wine bottling for more than 200 customers and 1.5 million cases per year. After graduating from San Diego State University in 1997 with a degree in business management, Crawford started his career in wine label printing and package design working for Blake Printery in San Luis Obispo, Calif. This is also where he began working with Michael Glavin, his eventual partner at Top It Off Bottling.

In 2005, Crawford moved to help another company launch a wine label print and design division. In less than five years he was able to grow Gold Coast Graphics into an award-winning wine label printer/designer and helped the owners prepare the company for sale. During this time he also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Chapman University.

Crawford joined Top It Off Bottling in 2010, when it was still a small mobile-bottling operation, and in January 2011 he was appointed to lead business development for the Napa County region.

A 25-year wine industry veteran, Mimi Gatens began her career at Merryvale Vineyards as special events manager. Seeking a fun way to introduce Gen X to the wonders of wine, she founded the Wine Brats with four friends in 1993. The Wine Brats went on to produce more than 300 events per year around the United States. In 1994, she started a 10-year tenure with Pine Ridge and Archery Summit wineries as vice president of hospitality and human resources.

Gatens worked with Pat Kuleto as co-general manager of his Napa Valley winery, where she focused on sales, marketing and hospitality. She joined Benziger Family Winery in 2005 and in 2007 became their director of sustainability and focused her marketing and education skills on the winery’s many green business practices and the family’s comprehensive certified-sustainable farming program.

Passionate for green business and sustainable agriculture, she joined the Trefethen family as marketing manager in 2012. Since August 2014, much of her efforts have been focused on Trefethen’s recovery from the severe damage suffered during due to a magnitude 6.0-earthquake that rocked Napa Valley in 2014. She is very active with the Napa Valley Vintners and served 17 years on Auction Napa Valley’s Steering Committee. She has a master’s degree in communications from Chico State and was recently inducted into the school’s acclaimed Forensics Team Hall of Fame.

With experience spanning more than 25 years and multiple markets around the globe, David Hanson-Jerrard has built a career cultivating successful brands. Initially in the U.K. and then moving to the United States in the mid-1990s, he has worked both for and with brand owners primarily in the alcoholic beverage industries throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. His experience in the highly saturated U.S. wine industry has provided him with a unique perspective in ensuring premium brands rise above the noise of the competition.

Pat Henderson is the chief winemaker of Kenwood Vineyards and a veteran of more than 30 vintages. While completing his degree in the viticulture and enology at University of California, Davis, Henderson worked at five wineries including a summer with Kenwood Vineyards as enologist in 1983. After graduation he worked in both Napa and Sonoma valleys before taking his first position as head winemaker at a winery in Washington.a

Henderson rejoined the Kenwood Vineyards team in 2003 as winemaker. Under the mentorship of Mike Lee, the original Kenwood winemaker, Pat learned the art of small-lot winemaking. In 2015 Henderson became chief winemaker of Kenwood Vineyards where he crafts wines with unique varietal character driven from Sonoma’s diverse terroir. His approach to winemaking embodies Kenwood Vineyards’ small-lot winemaking philosophy and a dedication to detail to ensure his wines capture the very best Sonoma has to offer.

Henderson lives with his wife on the same mountain Jack London called home. His downtime is spent hiking these mountain trails with his dogs and car racing with industry colleagues. Henderson is a member of The American Society for Enology and Viticulture as well as the Society of Wine Educators and has been a judge at numerous professional wine competitions.

Allison Jordan

Allison Jordan is vice president of environmental affairs for Wine Institute, a public-policy association of nearly 1,000 California wineries and affiliated businesses. She also serves as executive director of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, a non-governmental organization incorporated in 2003 by Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers to promote environmental and social responsibility in the state’s wine industry. Previously, Jordan was a senior associate at SureHarvest and vice president and acting executive director of Resource Renewal Institute. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley and is a fellow in the German Marshall Fund’s American Marshall Memorial Fellowship program. Jordan and her husband are founding partners of Giordano Bros., a San Francisco-based restaurant.

Steve Lamoureux is senior vice president of product innovation and design solutions at The Nielsen Co., where he leads the company’s efforts to develop design process solutions that unlock the power of design for packaged products. A firm believer in the importance of good design, Lamoureux is on a mission to elevate awareness of its importance among brand executives at leading global companies and smaller enterprises alike. He marries expertise from both the agency and brand worlds—including a successful tenure at Procter & Gamble, where he led record-breaking product launches and marketing campaigns in the health and beauty care division. Later, Lamoureux launched new products and marketing initiatives at Allied Domecq for the Dunkin’ Donuts and Togo’s brands with an uninterrupted record of revenue growth over his seven-year tenure. Finally, he led product development for Affinnova’s cutting-edge innovation technologies—including concept and design optimization— before Affinnova was acquired by Nielsen in 2014. By combining his professional brand experience, vision for design process improvement and Nielsen’s vast market data and analytical assets, Lamoureux has quickly become one of the design industry’s most influential advocates.

Shelley Lindgren is a restaurant owner, sommelier and cookbook author. A graduate of the University of San Francisco, Shelley Lindgren spent six years at Fleur de Lys while earning her sommelier certificate. She also earned a culinary certificate at the Tante Marie Cooking School, where she has been teaching wine since 2002.

Curtis Mann is a 15-year veteran of the California wine industry with experience in hospitality, direct-to-consumer sales and wine-marketing information. Currently, as the wine, beer and spirits buyer for Raley’s, he is responsible for alcohol sales across 118 stores in California and Nevada, and accepted the Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Award as Retailer of the Year in 2017. Mann began his career at ZD Wines and later served as tasting room manager at Baldacci Family Vineyards. After earning his MBA from the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, he assumed a number of roles in the retail and restaurant industries buying and selling wine and beer. Mann has completed the prestigious Wine and Spirits Education Trust diploma and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Wine program. He is also a wine judge at the California State and Calaveras County Fairs and continues to educate consumers through frequent appearances on Good Day Sacramento.

As vice president of marketing, Rhonda Motil leverages almost a quarter-century of experience in the wine and technology industries to direct J. Lohr’s dedicated marketing team, branding initiatives and direct-to-consumer strategy.

Motil earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Dayton and held positions in procurement and market analysis at multiple technology firms. In 2002 she joined the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association as the executive director and spent more than a decade managing all aspects of operations including membership and regional branding efforts.

In 2013 she joined J. Lohr as senior marketing director before being handpicked to succeed Cynthia’s Lohr as VP of marketing. In this position, she works closely with the entire Lohr family to execute the long-term vision for J. Lohr. Motil also serves on several boards including the Arroyo Seco Winegrowers Associations, Summertime in a Glass and as the Wine Institute Marketing Committee and the Paso Robles CAB Collective Marketing Committee.

Leslie Sbrocco

An award-winning author, speaker, consultant and television host, Leslie Sbrocco is known for her entertaining and educational approach to wine. Voted one of the Top 100 most influential people in the American wine business, Sbrocco’s engaging personality, deep wine knowledge and unique ability to connect with readers and viewers are her trademarks.

Sbrocco has built wine programs for and consulted with companies such as Target, Virgin America Airlines, Harry & David and Kimpton Hotels.

Ron Varner

Ron Varner manages the Technical Services Group and Bottling Services at G3 Enterprises. Before taking the role with the Technical Services Group, Varner was the senior operations manager for G3 Closure Division. Varner has been working the winery supply business for more than 18 years. Before coming to G3 in 2011, he was the vice president of operations for Cork Supply USA. With this role, Varner was in charge of manufacturing, supply chain, customer service, quality and technical service. Prior to joining the wine industry, he spent seven years doing process and project engineering in heavy manufacturing, which included lean manufacturing and six-sigma implementation. Varner has bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and an MBA from St. Mary’s.

Ramon Ware is vice president of supply chain for Wente Family Estates, the country’s oldest, continuously operated family-owned winery, where his duties span operations, compliance, product realization, procurement and planning. An 18-year veteran of the wine industry, he previously worked for E. & J. Gallo Winery and Delicato Family Vineyards. As a lean six-sigma black belt, he is a proponent of lean methodologies to drive process-improvement and business success. Ramon earned his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy and an MBA from Webster’s University while on active duty as a flight navigator on special operations aircraft.