Management Team
Executives
William Hill - Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Richard Wollack - Co-Chairman and President
Real Estate Investment Management
Finance & Administration
Vineyard Design & Development, Farming & Viticulture and Grape Sales
Independent Board Members
Executives
William Hill - Vineyard Designer, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Hill lives and works in Napa Valley. With partners, Mr. Hill founded William Hill Winery (Napa), Van Duzer (Oregon) and, most recently, Bighorn Cellars (Napa). In 1996, Wine Spectator, a respected publication in the wine industry, recognized Mr. Hill as one of the 50 “wine producers who innovated, perfected and led the international campaign for higher quality wine” over the past 30 years. In his career, Mr. Hill has developed over 40 high-end vineyards, perhaps the most of any developer in the United States. Over that time, Mr. Hill has acquired a level of experience and expertise unmatched in the industry.
Richard Wollack - Co-Chairman and President
Dick has been involved in all phases of the real estate investment business since 1971, and has been a principal in dozens of real estate entities with a combined capitalization of more than $5 billion. Mr. Wollack was the founder and Chairman of Global Real Analytics (GRA), an investment firm that since 1980 specialized in forecasting real estate market prospects for and management of investment in publicly traded real estate debt and equity securities. GRA was sold to Charles Schwab Investment Management effective January 1, 2007. The author of two books on real estate and investing, he has also been an adjunct professor at both Stanford Graduate School of Business and the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Business and was a member of the California Senate Commission on Corporate Governance, Shareholder Rights and Securities Transactions. Mr. Wollack holds an MBA with distinction from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (1969) and a BA from the University of Illinois (1967), where he was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Wollack is a licensed California Real Estate Broker. He lives in St. Helena, California with his wife, Sue.
Real Estate Investment Management
Ian Malone - Managing Director, Investment & Finance
Ian joined PPV in 2003 as a member of the capital markets and finance team. Prior to joining PPV, Mr. Malone worked in the investment banking department of UBS Investment Bank. While at UBS, Mr. Malone worked on a variety of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions advisory assignments and equity and convertible debt offerings. Prior to UBS, Mr. Malone founded an Internet design and marketing firm specializing in the needs of legal and medical practices and small to medium-sized businesses. Mr. Malone graduated cum laude from Kenyon College, where he received a BA in Economics with a Minor in Philosophy. Mr. Malone also attended Oxford University (St. Catherine’s College). Mr. Malone sits on the Marketing Committee of the Oregon Wine Board, which markets and promotes Oregon wines.
Peter Bartlett - Managing Director, Investment & Project Management (PVP & MF Manager)
Peter joined PPV in 2006 with a diverse background in real estate and investing. Peter previously served as Vice President of The Reliant Group, a private real estate fund manager focused on the multifamily sector. Prior to that, he worked with Highlands Management Group, a leading developer of high-end golf club residential communities. Before joining Highlands, Peter was with SKS Investments, where he was involved in acquiring and financing a one million square foot portfolio of office properties with institutional partners such as CalSTRS and Farallon Capital Management. Peter also spent five years living and working in China, and studied Mandarin Chinese at Beijing University. From 1996 to 1999, Peter was based in Beijing for Cummins Engine Company, where his responsibilities included the implementation of a $50 million manufacturing joint venture. Peter received a BA with distinction in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Dana Sexton Vivier - Fund Manager
Dana Sexton Vivier joined PPV in 2006 as an Assistant Fund Manager. Prior to joining the company, Ms. Vivier worked as the Northwest Project Developer for FPL Energy, a large wind energy company, where her responsibilities included coordinating consultants, creating detailed budgets and performing due diligence for potential acquisitions. Ms. Vivier holds an MBA in Finance and International Management from the University of California at Davis and a BA in Economics with a Minor in French Literature from Whitman College. Ms. Vivier has also attended Paris-Sorbonne XIV and is fluent in French.
Finance & Administration
Jeff Ottoboni - Vice President, Accounting/Administration
Jeff has over 20 years of experience in the wine industry, including various positions of increasing responsibility with two fine wine producers as well as with E&J Gallo. In his most recent position prior to joining PPV, Mr. Ottoboni was President of the David Bruce Winery. Mr. Ottoboni received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame and a JD from the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Ottoboni is a Certified Public Accountant and Member of the California State Bar.
Barry Belli - Controller
Barry Belli joined PPV in 2007. Mr. Belli previously worked with Domaine Chandon (Moet, Hennessey, LVMH), where he held several management positions, including Financial Planning and Analysis Manager and, most recently, Controller. He was also instrumental in managing the integration of the Newton winery into Chandon. Before coming to the wine industry, Mr. Belli worked in the Pepsi Co. family of companies for eight years – first with the Taco Bell operations management team, then Frito Lay operations management and then to Frito Lay Headquarters in Plano, Texas to work in Operations Finance. Mr. Belli received an MBA from Fresno State University.
Vineyard Development & Management
Matt McKamey - Managing Director, SVP, Vineyard Development & Operations
Matt McKamey has over 25 years of project management and land development experience including vineyards and wineries. For the past 10 years, Matt’s focus has been on the entitlement and development of vineyards, wineries and commercial properties. His expertise includes planning, CEQA, regulatory compliance and preparation of engineering improvement plans. Prior to joining PPV, Matt was a Principal of Winzler and Kelly, an Engineering News Record Top 500 firm.
Mike Cybulski - Managing Director, Vineyard Operations
Mike Cybulski joined PPV in 2006 as Vineyard Development Manager, responsible for overseeing all vineyard development activity at PPV’s properties. Before joining PPV, Mr. Cybulski was Director of Vineyard Operations at Pine Ridge Winery, a luxury Napa Valley wine producer. At Pine Ridge he developed a new vineyard on Howell Mountain in Napa Valley and implemented state-of-the-art viticultural practices to improve wine quality.
Mr. Cybulski graduated with honors from Napa Valley College in 1993 with an AS in Viticulture and completed significant coursework at the Department of Viticulture and Enology at University of California, Davis. Mr. Cybulski also received a BS in Business Administration from Western Michigan University.
Patrick Mahaney - Grape Sales & Leasing
Patrick Mahaney is PPV’s Managing Director Grape Sales & Leasing. Mr. Mahaney leads the marketing efforts for the sale of grapes produced by PPV’s vineyard properties and the creation of capital solutions to the fine wine industry in the sale or leasing of the assets. Prior to joining PPV, Mr. Mahaney had a 24 year career at Robert Mondavi Winery, where for the past eight years he was Mondavi’s Vice President of Global Wine Quality. In that role he directed statewide winegrowing research and quality-assurance initiatives served as a product liaison and co-marketer for new-brand and new-product initiatives, and directed the “makeover” of Mondavi’s Coastal-Private Selection product line to enhance its financial returns. Prior to that, Mr. Mahaney was Mondavi’s Director of Napa Valley Winemaking Operations. Mr. Mahaney graduated from University of California, Davis with a BS in Biochemistry.
Tom Adams - Director, Entitlement & Land Use
Thomas Adams has over 12 years of experience as an attorney and environmental consultant providing private and public clients practical legal and regulatory advise on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), land use, wetlands, endangered species, Fish and Game Code, and Clean Water Act compliance. Prior to joining Premier Pacific Vineyards, Mr. Adams was a Program Manager and Senior Project Manager with Kleinfelder Engineering, Environmental Counsel with Jones & Stokes Associates and Land Use/Environmental Attorney with both Downey Brand LLP and Abbott & Kindermann LLP.
Mr. Adams has taught classes for UC Davis Extension on NEPA, CEQA and environmental permitting and been a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley. Mr. Adams is a graduate of California Polytechnical State University at SLO and University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and is a member of the California State Bar.
Francisco Araujo - Regional Vineyard Manager
Francisco Araujo joined PPV in 2006 as Senior Viticulturist to provide technical support to all vineyard operations and help manage key viticultural practices. In the USA, Francisco has served as Viticulturist for Caymus Vineyards and most recently for Snows Lake Vineyard, an 800 acre vineyard located in Lake County.
Francisco obtained his Ingeniero Agrónomo degree from University of Zulia in Maracaibo, Venezuela. In 1982 he started as an extension officer for Centro Vitícola, an institution that provides technical support to grape growers in the Maracaibo Plain. In 1988 he obtained his MS in Horticulture from UC Davis and became coordinator of Centro Viticola. In 1992 he became Professor of Fruit Production at the Agronomy Faculty of University of Zulia. Francisco has published several papers out of his research work in vine water status and irrigation, tropical viticulture and tropical fruit production.
Ken Kupperman - Regional Vineyard Manager
Ken Kupperman joined PPV in 2007 as Regional Vineyard Manager overseeing all farming operations at the Company’s Oregon vineyards. Prior to joining PPV, Mr. Kupperman was Director of Viticulture at Wente Family Estates where he managed the farming operations of 3,000 acres of vineyards in the Livermore Valley, Monterey and Napa Valley and implemented and managed Wente’s reserve program for multiple ultra-premium wines. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kupperman developed and managed over 1,600 acres of tree fruit orchards in Washington State and Israel.
Mr. Kupperman graduated from the University of Arkansas with an M.S. in Horticulture. Mr. Kupperman also received a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Kansas.
Independent Directors
Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn is a partner in the litigation department of Folger Levin & Kahn LLP, a San Francisco law firm. Mr. Kahn is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles (BA, magna cum laude, 1970, Phi Beta Kappa) and Stanford University (MA and JD, 1973). At Stanford Law School, Mr. Kahn was the Irving Hellman, Jr. Scholar and the book review editor of the Stanford Law Review. After law school, he served as a law clerk to Judge Ben C. Duniway, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Kahn has been a member of the California Bar since 1973. A significant percentage of Mr. Kahn's litigation practice involves federal and state court proceedings throughout the United States. Mr. Kahn has been involved in several landmark cases, including U.S. v. Stringfellow in which he was lead trial counsel and City of Atascadero v. Merrill Lynch in which he represented the "Killer Bs."
Mr. Kahn is the author of a number of articles and reports on litigation practice, Supreme Court history and other legal subjects. Mr. Kahn's work has been published in law reviews, magazines, legal anthologies and scholarly journals.
Mr. Kahn has been chosen for numerous government appointments, including being named by the California State Senate to be a member of the Senate Commission studying Proposition 13. Mr. Kahn also served as Task Force Chairperson for Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi's Environmental Insurance Task Force in 1993-94. In 1999 Mr. Kahn was appointed by the Governor of the State of California, Gray Davis, to be a member of the Commission on Judicial Performance, which he chaired in 2001; his current term extends through 2007. Mr. Kahn was also appointed by Governor Davis to be Chair of the Electricity Oversight Board as well as Chairperson of the Governor's Clean Energy Green Team. In January 2001, Governor Davis appointed Mr. Kahn to the California ISO Board of Governors, which he chaired until March 2005.
Mr. Kahn has served on numerous non-profit and private boards of directors. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of a private biotechnology company and a private environmental waste disposal company.
Jack Daniels
Jack Daniels began his career in the wine industry in 1964 in the wine division of an international wine and spirit marketing and sales company. In 1978 Mr. Daniels co-founded Wilson Daniels Ltd. (WDL) and sold his interest in 2003. Over the 25 years developing Wilson Daniels, the company became recognized as one of the premier wine marketing and sales companies in the country. WDL focused on limited production, high-end, and single vineyard designated wines from around the world. The company commenced an exclusive importing arrangement with the heralded Domaine de la Romanee Conti (DRC) in 1979, for which the company still holds the rights today. At the time of Mr. Daniels' departure from the company it represented over 40 wine properties from every significant grape growing region in the world, marketed the wines in all 50 states and 30 foreign markets, and had 9 offices throughout the U.S. with over 100 employees in its headquarters in St. Helena, California.
Currently, Mr. Daniels has consultation roles with Wilson Daniels Ltd., a prominent Italian wine family developing vineyards in California and a new, start-up high end Cabernet producer in the Napa Valley. Mr. Daniels is also acting as an advisor and Board Director of a company importing wines from Argentina, Chile and Australia.
Mr. Daniels has served on the St. Helena City Council, the Queen of the Valley Hospital Foundation Board, and has been a speaker and panel member for many wine industry marketing and sales forums, nationally and internationally.
In 1999, Mr. Daniels was listed by Robb Report as one of the 10 most influential people to watch for in the wine business. Others noted were Robert Mondavi, Robert Parker, Christian Moueix, and Corinne Mentzelopoulos of Chateau Margaux, to name a few. Also, in 1999, Mr. Daniels was awarded a medal by the French government and the prestigious Order of the Merite de Agricole for his contribution to French agriculture.
Allan Martin
Allan Martin is a Partner at New England Pension Consultants (NEPC) and has thirty-eight years of investment experience. He manages NEPC’s West Coast consulting services from his office in Redwood City, California, and is responsible for NEPC’s Western Region client service and marketing. He is also a member of NEPC’s compliance, due diligence and technology committees.
Prior to joining NEPC, Allan worked for four years at Dresdner RCM Global Investors in San Francisco as Managing Director/Principal, Global Marketing and Client Services. While there, he managed the global marketing activities of DRCM, and played a lead role in the acquisition of RCM by Dresdner, and the subsequent repositioning of RCM to a global asset manager.
Prior to Dresdner RCM, Mr. Martin worked at Bankers Trust Company, in New York, for twenty-six years in various investment management, consulting, and trustee/master custody capacities. While at BT, he oversaw the establishment of the Passive Products Group, BT’s Investment Consulting Group and the Master Trust On-line Reporting activities. His last position at BT was Managing Director of the $400 Billion Global Retirement Services Group, the umbrella organization encompassing the full array of BT’s investment and administrative services for public and private pension and endowment funds. In the capacity as a major asset custodian, he helped establish the technology and information platform for the Independent Consultants Cooperative, the industry’s largest universe of actual manager performance information. He co-founded the ICC with Richard Charlton, NEPC’s president, in 1990.
Mr. Martin earned an MBA in Finance/Operations Research from Stanford University in 1969, and a BA in Mathematics (cum laude) from Stanford in 1967. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Stanford Faculty Club
John Higgins
John oversees the investment and asset allocation decision for Ram Trust Services, as well as focusing on developing specialty investments in private equity and real estate. His firsthand experience in mergers and acquisitions has guided the firm’s philosophy of active investment management.