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Northwest Women of the Vine Alliance Forum

27 Jun 2016
5:30pm - 7:30pm PDT
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27 Jun 2016
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27 Jun 2016
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Northwest Women of the Vine Alliance Forum

Join us on June 27 from 5:30-7:30PM for a collaborative evening and educational panel and Q&A discussion with our industry experts.  They will discuss ways to identify potential mentors while establishing successful relationships along your career path.  The event will include light appetizers that will be paired with Horse Heaven Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc and “Indian Wells” Cabernet Sauvignon.

Hosted by:  Ste. Michelle Wine Estates WOW (Women of Wine)

Welcome & Introductions:

Kari Leitch, Sr. VP Communications & Corporate Affairs,  Ste. Michelle Wine Estates - Women of the Vine Advisory Board Member

Opening Remarks:

Deborah Brenner, Founder & President, Women of the Vine Alliance

Moderator: 

Kim Weed, Manager of Compliance and Organizational Development, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

Panelists:

Jan Barnes, VP Group Brand Director, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates - Women of the Vine Advisory Board Member

Annette Alvarez-Peters, Asst. GMM, Beverage Alcohol, AIWS, CWE, Costco Wholesale - Women of the Vine Advisory Board Member

Clarice Turner, Sr. VP GM America’s Business, Starbucks Coffee Company

Joined by:   

Rachael Ellas, Northwest Region Vice President, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates - Women of the Vine Advisory Board Member

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
14111 NE 145th Street
Woodinville, WA  98072
425-488-1133

Annette Alvarez-Peters, AIWS, CWE is the Assistant GMM, Beverage Alcohol for Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale is the 2nd largest global retailer.  Costco is the dominant membership warehouse club operator.  There are 686 warehouse stores in 9 countries.  Sales totaled $113.7 billion in 2015 fiscal year (ending August 30, 2105).

Costco has over 80 million cardholders with a 91% renewal rate (US & CN).  The average member has a household income of $92k.  35% of the Costco members have an income greater than $100k, 41% are college graduates and 86% own their own home.

Costco warehouses carry a limited number of SKUs (stock keeping units) – approximately 4,000 – compared to the 30,000+ found at most supermarkets.  Costco members will find a wide range of product categories (food and sundries, hardlines and softlines) that offer quality and value.  Costco features National brands and selected private label, Kirkland Signature. 

Costco’s global beverage alcohol department sales totaled $3.6B in fiscal year 2015.  Of the 686 locations, Costco has 544 locations which sell wine, 405 sell spirits and 556 sell beer.  The average SKU count for the department is 225 items.  Costco carries a wide range of price points from everyday wines to first growth Bordeaux, premium spirits and beer.

Annette oversees the Wine, Beer and Spirits department for the United States.  Responsibilities include:  direct and assist 12 US regional and corporate buyers with implementation of corporate directives, along with assisting 8 international buyers. Lead development of new wines, spirits & beer for the Kirkland Signature program. Develop new supplier relationships, while working directly with National account representatives, suppliers and distributors to strengthen sales relationships.  Interact with the Media and Analysts, assist legal, accounting, and marketing concerning all aspects of beverage alcohol departments.  In addition, she produces a quarterly column for in-house publication, The Costco Connection.

Annette is an Associate member of the Institute Wine and Spirits Education Trust and holds the Diploma certificate (AIWS), also holds the Certified Wine Educator (CWE) certificate from the Society of Wine Educators.

Costco has been recognized as Retailer of the Year in 2015 by Wine Enthusiast and Washington State Wine Industry and in 2011 by MarketWatch.  Also, named on the biennial Decanter’s Powerlist from 2005-2013 and in Fortune/Food &Wine Top 25 Innovative Women, Food & Drink.

Jan Barnes is the Vice President, Group Brand Director for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE), the leading wine producer in Washington state and owner of wineries in California and Oregon as well as the exclusive US importer of Antinori wines, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte and Villa Maria Estate.

Jan has over 25 years of experience in consumer marketing, promotions and PR. Prior to joining Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Jan worked with Millstone (gourmet coffee) and Proctor and Gamble. She joined SMWE in 1998, and is in her 19th year with the company.

She is responsible for the brand marketing and strategic development for a 3 million case portfolio, including Chateau Ste. Michelle, Domaine Ste. Michelle, Eroica and O Wines. Chateau Ste. Michelle is the #3 premium brand sold in the U.S. (Nielsen) In addition to successfully managing and growing a broad portfolio, Jan was the marketing lead for Eroica, ajoint venture between Chateau Ste. Michelle and Germany’s famed Dr. Loosen Estate. “I have a great passion for delivering exceptional winery experiences to consumers, be it through packaging or promotions, a glass of wine or a visit to the historic grounds of Chateau Ste. Michelle,” Jan says.

Chateau Ste. Michelle was recently awarded its 21th Winery of the Year honor fromWine & Spirits, U.S Wine Producer of the Year from the International Wine & Spirit Competition and 2013 Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year from Wine Press Northwest.

Jan is an Ohio native with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University.

 

Kim Weed is the Manager of Compliance and Organizational Development at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.

With an MBA in Organizational Leadership, over 16 years in Organizational Development and experience as a public speaker, certified career coach and mentor, she brings a hands-on approach to help organizations become more effective through engaged, high-performing employees.

Whether it's a leadership workshop, a panel discussion, a mentoring session or a career development exercise, Kim’s workshops and consulting engagements help employees reach their fullest potential. She is a Gallup certified Strengths Performance Coach and a master facilitator in numerous programs such as Crucial Conversations, Helping Others Succeed and Career Coaching for Managers. In addition, she also successfully piloted a structured Mentoring Program at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates that will roll out organization wide in July.

Kim has worked with employees in almost every business sector, from financial services, telecommunications, retail, and healthcare.  She is currently at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. 

For fun, Kim enjoys teaching group fitness classes and spending time with her husband and pugs.

Clarice Turner, Senior Vice President, Americas Business

As head of food for the past 2½ years, Clarice Turner led the Americas Food business and the Starbucks Evenings program which she helped pioneer. In recent years, she led a key part of the U.S. Starbucks store portfolio as senior vice president, general manager of the U.S. License Business and as senior vice president in the U.S. company business.

Prior to Starbucks, Clarice was president and chief operations officer of Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza, the fifth largest pizza chain in the country. Clarice joined Papa Murphy’s in 2007, following a highly-respected 16-year career with PepsiCo and Yum! Brands, where she progressed rapidly through a variety of executive management positions, including domestic and international general management in corporate, licensed, and franchise ownership models. She was instrumental at incubating new businesses, driving rapid growth, and leading downsizing efforts. Her previous experience, while earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees, included international sales and marketing and a stint as a financial controller.

Clarice continues tenure of service on multiple boards, private, advisory and nonprofit. She currently serves on the Culinary Institute of America Board of Fellows, as an executive board director for the National Restaurant Association, vice chair of the Food & Healthy Living committee and past chair of the Sustainability committee, and the Advisory Board for the Washington State University School of Business. Clarice earned a Master of Business Administration concentrating in international business, a bachelor’s in geology from San Francisco State University, and attended Fudan University in Shanghai, China where she studied Mandarin Chinese and published several papers on her research and work.

Kari Leitch is Vice President of Communications and Corporate Affairs for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, which is the third largest premium wine company in the U.S. Ste. Michelle owns and markets wines produced in Washington, Oregon and California, and the company also is the exclusive North American importer of wineries from Italy, Spain, France, New Zealand and Chile.

Ms. Leitch began her career at Ste. Michelle in 1996. In her present role, Ms. Leitch manages corporate communications, government affairs and branded public relations programs for all wineries in the Ste. Michelle portfolio.

Ms. Leitch serves on the board for the Washington Wine Institute and is a member of the California Wine Institute’s State Relations Subcommittee and Les Dames d’Escoffier.

A native of Illinois, Ms. Kari earned her BA in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Deborah Brenner is the Founder & President of Women of the Vine Alliance.  She graduated from the University of Delaware with degrees in English and Journalism, and was soon hired by a television and film technology company that required international travel to countries for whom wine is a part of everyday life. After over 20 years in the male-dominated field of high-end technology and owning a marketing and public relations firm, Ms. Brenner discovered during a fortuitous trip to Napa and Sonoma that many women in the wine industry – like her own – were under-recognized. Compelled to tell their stories, she authored a bestselling collection of profiles on women in the wine industry, Women of the Vine: Inside the World of Women Who Make, Taste and Enjoy Wine, which Wine Spectator named a Critical Read of 2007.

Through the process of writing the book and championing its subjects, Ms. Brenner became inspired to enter the wine business herself, releasing wine from a first-of-its-kind collective of seven artisan women winemakers from Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles. For the following seven years, Ms. Brenner learned the business inside and out. Ultimately, however, all the money, blood, sweat and (a lot) of tears could not foster women in the wine industry the way Brenner had hoped, which led her to shut down the Women of the Vine wine brand and return to the drawing board.

One year later, Brenner organized the inaugural Women of the Vine Global Symposium, held in March of 2015, which quickly sold out to 500 women from five countries. Due to the overwhelming response, Brenner and the Women of the Vine Advisory Board went to work developing a consortium that supports professionals in the alcohol beverage industry year-round. Thus emerged the Women of the Vine Alliance, a membership-based organization, anchored by the annual Symposium, whose mission is to empower and equip women worldwide to advance their careers in the alcohol beverage industry, fostering gender diversity and talent development across the industry at large.

Ms. Brenner has received a Rising Star Award from Women for WineSense (2008), a New York Small Business Administration Women in Business Champion Of The Year (2009), a New York City National Association of Women Business Owners Signature Award (2010), the Lillian Vernon Award for Outstanding Community Service by the Women's Enterprise Development Center (2011), a NY Women in Communications Rising Star Award (2013), and the Rockland Business Women's Network Woman of the Year Award (2014). She is also a member of Senator Gillibrand’s NY Agriculture Working Group. She resides in Rockland County, New York.

Rachael Ellas is Northwest Region Vice President at Ste Michelle Wine Estates where she has directed a management team for 28 years. During her tenure with Ste Michelle Wine Estates, she has worked in Oregon as a State Manager and Division Manager. She was promoted to Vice President for the Region in 1988 relocating to headquarters in Woodinville. Prior to working at Ste Michelle, she held management positions in wine distribution. She worked in both off premise and on premise in this role before she was promoted to Manager of all off premise trade channels. Her career started after college graduation with Altria, the current parent company to Ste Michelle Wine Estates, where she worked for 6 years in sales capacities to include trade channel and chains. She and her family, husband David and son Jordan, reside in Washington State.

27 Jun 2016
5:30pm - 7:30pm PDT

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  • Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, 14111 NE 145th Street Woodinville, WA  98072
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