Originally from Mumbai, Priyanka French is one of the few female Indians to hold a Master of Science in Viticulture and Enology from University of California, Davis. She built her experience working at wineries in Napa as well as traveling through the regions of Burgundy, Cognac, Bordeaux and New Zealand. Prior to joining Signorello Estate as Winemaker, she worked at Dalla Valle Vineyards where she had a chance to clearly understand the importance of female led businesses and initiatives. Her winemaking style focusses on precision viticulture and restrained winemaking that allows fruit expression as dictated by the site. In her new role, she hopes to open avenues for diversity in the industry and always remain a supporter of female driven enterprises.

You can follow her on Instagram at @priyad87.

Diane Bergeon is the founder/owner of West Coast Wine Compliance. Licensing is a specialized field and Diane developed West Coast Wine Compliance in 2014 combining a passion for wine with years of legal/compliance experience. Based in Napa Valley, West Coast Wine Compliance (WCWC) is a niche service for winemakers and wine entrepreneurs. WCWC assists wine businesses with compliance consulting, ABC licensing, direct to consumer reporting, wholesale reporting, label approvals, clean-up projects, state reporting and many other tasks. Other Credentials include WSET Advanced, SSU Wine Business Certificate, SSU Direct-to-Consumer Sales Certificate, Custom Crush Winemaking, Previous Career Corporate Paralegal.

Native Chinese, immigrated to the U.S. after obtaining B.S. degree from Kansai University in Japan. Joined family business Star Lane & Dierberg Vineyards in 2008 and since has been building export business in Asia and beyond. In the midst of pandemic, JiaMin started her involvement in management of other family businesses in Hermann, Missouri including a winery, several tasting rooms, brewery and pub, restaurant and an upscale lodging operation. JiaMin has also actively involved in various nonprofit organizations with their development and fundraising needs. She serves on several boards including St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum, City Academy, St. Louis Modern Chinese School, Missouri Botanical Garden, Dierberg Educational Foundation and Best USA Educational Foundation. JiaMin enjoys food and wine, art, travel, cooking and gardening.

With more than 25 years of marketing, winemaking and viticulture, and sales experience, Nicole is responsible for all aspects of the operations at Maison Louis Roederer’s US Wineries. Her role as President includes oversight of all functional areas of the commercial business starting with Direct-to-Consumer, Wholesale and Export sales and includes all levels of strategic planning and marketing through to execution. In the production arena, she oversees winemaking and viticulture across the wineries as well as the supply chain functions.

Prior to the appointment with the Roederer Collection, Nicole served as the Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Winemaking for Hess Family Wine Estates and before that, 18 years with Treasury Wine Estates in several global marketing and public relations roles overseeing luxury brands from Napa, Sonoma and Australia. Before joining the wine industry, Nicole spent 10 years in Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA working in the public affairs sector practicing lobbying and public relations on behalf of several beverage alcohol companies.

Nicole is a Certified Specialist of Wine from the Society of Wine Educators and holds additional certifications from the Court of Master Sommeliers, the Wine and Spirits Education Trust and the Culinary Institute of America Wine School in Napa Valley.

As president, Mari Jones oversees all aspects of Emeritus Vineyards, she believes in a collaborative approach that empowers the talented Emeritus team. Though an early passion for wine had been instilled in Mari, from her father who ran a winery, she was eager to chart her own path. After earning a philosophy degree at Colgate University, she moved to Colorado and worked at the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program. In 2012, after years of giving her father advice from afar, he invited Mari to return home to build a tasting room and start a wine club. She quickly became an invaluable member of her father’s team and was soon the COO until her father retired in 2019 and she became President.

Taïs graduated with a degree in Business, and a minor in Human Resource Management. After spending almost a decade doing HR for big tech, she made the decision to move to Italy to study wine. Upon her return to the US, she started working in the wine industry where she has worked as a Director in a membership-based marketing organization, a GM of small and medium wineries, and an operational consultant. Taïs currently works developing and executing strategic marketing educational programs for winery clients in the US and abroad.

Courtney is the Executive Director of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association (AVWA). She is a CSW and has completed other wine industry coursework after being bitten by the wine bug in college. Courtney studied marketing and communication in graduate school at Simmons College and completed the Sonoma State Wine Business Certification coursework. In 2017 she arrived sight unseen in Anderson Valley after leaving a career in the financial services industry in Boston and accepting a wine business internship with Foursight Wines. When interviewed, she was asked about her five-year career objective. She replied that she wanted to work for a regional wine association. Fortunately, her love for Anderson Valley aligned with her career goals, and she began working with the AVWA in January 2019.