Below are just some of the speakers who presented at the 2016 Wine Marketing & Tourism Conference.
Beth Costa is the Executive Director of Wine Road, an association of 197 wineries and 54 lodgings in the Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River Valleys of Northern Sonoma County. Wine Road is famous for its many events, including three large annual celebrations including many of the area winery. Beth previously worked for Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates as the Tasting Room manager of multiple properties.
Bryan Daniel was appointed to lead the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and Tourism (EDT) in January 2015. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development and Tourism (EDT) promotes the State of Texas as a leading global business climate and premier travel destination. In November 2015, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Daniel to the Texas Economic Development Corporation Board, which supports programs and activities of the Governor’s Division of Economic Development and Tourism, including TexasOne, which markets Texas competitively and dynamically to businesses outside the state of Texas.
Sandra Hess is the founder of DTC Wine Workshops, which supports wineries of all sizes in the areas of e-commerce, CRM, DTC Strategic Planning, and Training Services to grow direct to consumer wine sales and retain loyal customers. Prior to joining the wine industry, Sandra served small to mid-sized businesses as well as global corporations in the areas of CRM software, website design, online marketing, public relations, compliance management and workflow automation solutions.
Stacie Jacob is the Founder and Chief Strategist at Solterra Strategies, a public relations, brand strategy, and marketing firm focused on the wine industry. Stacie was previously Chief Executive Officer of Visit San Luis Obispo County, Executive Director of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, and Public Relations Director for the Washington Wine Commission. Stacie will bring this association and DMO experience to bear as she leads our Winery Association & Tourism Agency Workshop & Summit.
Miguel Lecuona is the owner of two Texas wine country businesses, Wine Marketing Guide LLC and Hill Country Light Photography LLC. In the former position, Miguel provides consulting services to various wine industry businesses, including the very popular Wine Road 290 group of wineries in Fredericksburg.
Dina Mande is a multidimensional director, editor and producer who has filmed interesting people, fantastic places, and lush vineyards, including working with leading wine brands and regions such as The California Wine Institute, Napa Valley Vintners, Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, Silver Oak Cellars and J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines. As founder of Juice Media in Paso Robles, Mande has continued to expand her horizons, directing over 500 videos since 2010, winning 19 Addy Awards, a Telly award, and four top Wine Spectator Video Awards. She’s the director and co-creator behind the popular viral web series “Paso Wine Man,” which has become a cult phenomenon within the wine world.
Beth Peluse is in charge of marketing for Zephyr Adventures and Taste Vacations, operators of wine and other vacations around the world. She handles content marketing, social media marketing, online advertising, partnerships, and everything else. Beth has a background in digital marketing with two marketing agencies in Chicago.
Andy Potter is a Tennessee native that made the move to Austin back in 2006. He spent 10 years traveling the world with John Deere & Dell in Supply Chain management consulting before starting his own company, Austin Eats Food Tours. Austin Eats Food Tours is a 6 year old company which guides locals and out-of-towners alike to “quintessential Austin restaurants, food trucks & bars”. Austin Eats now hosts an average of 40 food tour events a month with 65% of those being private/corporate events.
Robyn Scott handles all marketing and communications for the six annual conferences operated by Zephyr Conferences, which includes the Wine Marketing & Tourism Conference. Her responsibilities including email communications, content creation, social media marketing, online advertising, and more. She previously worked as Operations Manager and Director of Marketing for a vacation rental company and spent seven years working for a digital marketing agency.
Jeff Siegel, the Wine Curmudgeon, is an award-winning wine writer whose blog annually ranks among the top 25 wine sites on the Internet. He is the co-founder and former president of Drink Local Wine, the first locavore wine movement, and an adjunct instructor at El Centro College in Dallas. Siegel’s current book is “The Wine Curmudgeon’s Guide to Cheap Wine.”
Paul Wagner is president of Balzac Communications & Marketing and is also an instructor for Napa Valley College’s Viticulture and Enology department, Sonoma State’s Wine Business Program, and the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. With Rick Kushman of Capital Public Radio, he hosts “Bottle Talk”, a weekly conversation about wine. Paul Wagner has judged many national and international wine competitions, is a founding member of the Academy of Wine Communications, a member of the nominations committee of the Culinary Institute of America’s Vintner’s Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Spadarini della Castellania di Soave in 2005. In 2009 he was honored with a “Life Dedicated to Wine” award at the Feria Nacional del Vino (FENAVIN) in Spain. With Liz Thach and Janeen Olsen, he authored: Wine Marketing & Sales, Strategies for a Saturated Market.
“Merlot Mike” Wilson, Partner and Vice President of The Vineyard and Brewery at Hershey, has an MBA and a strong background in PR, marketing, and social media. He is President of startup marketing firm M.R. Wilson Group and a faculty member of the Continuing Education division of Harrisburg Area Community College. A Government Relations professional by day and ambassador/board member for the Hershey-Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau in his spare time, Michael has a dedicated commitment to experiential “agrotourism” in helping to grow Pennsylvania’s wine, craft beer and cider movement. Mike markets The Vineyard at Hershey’s brand and has grown it from startup to top 10 Pennsylvania winery in less than 5 years.