Wine Country Hospitality Symposium

The Sixth Annual 
2011 Wine Country Hospitality Symposium
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
NVC Upper Valley Campus  
St. Helena, CA (map)

      Click Here to See Spring 2011 Schedule of Events

 The Napa Valley College Wine Country Hospitality Symposium is a must-attend event! This year's event is focused on the latest industry trends surrounding Sustainability in its many applications.             
                                                                                                     

From pasture-to-table food preparation, to long-term employee engagement and successful community-based business operations the Symposium consists of a full day of speakers and seminars discussing topics that are facing the Northern California hospitality industry.  Following a "highly talked-about and now-famous", sustainable lunch catered by Silverado Brewing Co. in our Culinary Arts Building, a wine tasting, product exploration and trade show in the relaxing and beautiful "Culinary Quad" will offer networking opportunities to catalyze the success of your hospitality business.

2011 Featured Speakers

Aaron  Schiller 
Global Director of Sustainability, Saatchi & Saatchi S

Aaron Schiller (@TrueBlueWolf) is Global Director of Sustainability at Saatchi & Saatchi. Over the past 10 years Mr. Schiller has worked with students, adults and organizations to focus on personal and organizational change.

In 2006, Mr. Schiller joined forces with Adam Werbach and the San Francisco based Sustainability consultancy Act Now Productions where he designed and facilitated over 100 daylong Sustainability trainings for the 1.3 million associates of Wal-Mart. Act Now Productions was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi, a worldwide communications company, and renamed Saatchi & Saatchi S in 2008.

Mr. Schiller led the team who designed and implemented a new kind of sustainability beyond green-True Blue. At the center of this movement is a community of personally engaged employees all over the world who are willing to Do One Thing (DOT). In 2009, Mr. Schiller was assigned to Saatchi & Saatchi and appointed Global Director of Sustainability to continue to organize, inspire and lead Saatchi in promoting sustainability.



Tim Mueller
Owner, River Dog Farms - Community Supported Agriculture

The CSA concept is based on mutual reliance between farmers and consumers (subscribers). The farm provides the subscriber on a regular basis with fresh, organic produce and the subscriber directly supports the farm by providing a steady income. By sharing in the harvest of the farm, consumers are closely connected to the whims of nature and seasonal cycles. Farmers benefit by having secure outlets for their produce and by knowing the people who are involved with the prosperity of the farm.

Paul Mabray
Chief Strategy Officer, Vintank

Paul has been in the wine and spirits industry for over seventeen years. He has worked for Napa Ale Works, Niebaum~Coppola, WineShopper/Wine.com and also was the North American Beverage Consultant for Sumitomo Corporation of America from 2002 through 2005. He founded Inertiain 2002 as one of the first major companies established to bridge the barrier between wineries and their customers. Paul Mabray was CEO from 2003 until 2008 creating the largest and most powerful e-commerce platform for the wine industry, the Rethink Engine. Under his leadership, Inertia created incredible new products for the wine industry to help open up the ability to sell and market direct including the innovative Direct to Trade, ReThink Compliance, Brix Open Source CMS, Marketplace Enablement, and many more. 


  

Ariane Michas
Manager, Local Food Systems, Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Ariane Michas holds a BA in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz and an MA in Anthropology from UC Davis.  She is primarily interested in the intersection between food, farming, and culture.  With over twelve years of experience in nonprofit sector, her work has ranged from helping create a global network of women peacebuilders from 25 different conflict zones to helping businesses of all sizes green their supply chains.  In her current position as Manager of Local Food Systems for the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Ms. Michas is responsible for implementing the statewide Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign. 




Bob Corshen
Director, Local Food Sstems, Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Mr. Corshen possesses a wealth of experience from a long and successful career in the food industry. He earned the Sysco “Supplier of the Year” award while serving as VP of Sales & Marketing at Shenandoah Valley Poultry Co, developed and executed business plans as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Sarah Natural Foods, and significantly reduced costs as Production Manager at Clif Bar. As a founding partner of Great American Breaded Vegetable Company, Bob oversaw all aspects of operations and negotiated equitable agreements for family farmers to directly supply over half of the raw produce for the company.

O. Lee Mincey
National Director of Training, Live Nation

O. Lee specializes in all aspects of helping places of leisure and recreation increase attendance, guest spending and guest intent to return. Focus is on guest experience, employee engagement and operational effectiveness. He has strong experience in managing and leading large operations, training and development, branding and customer experience within iconic brands with high volume and complex operations such as World of Coca-Cola Atlanta/Las Vegas, Disneyland Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Entertainment.





Clark Wolf
President, Clark Wolf Company

Clark Wolf has more than thirty years of experience in the food industry and is founder and President of Clark Wolf Company, a New York-based food and restaurant consulting firm. He has been called the "slam dunk, hit city food consultant" and a "Merchandising Maestro."

Starting in 1996, Wolf has served as Chair of the Advisory Committee to New York University’s Department of Nutrition & Food Studies and helped to formulate the country’s first full Food Studies program with the scientist and educator Dr. Marion Nestle. After founding the New York chapter of the American Institute of Wine & Food, he served on its National Board and mounted six international conferences.

Wolf is a Contributing Authority to Food Arts Magazine, a member of salon.com’s Kitchen Cabinet and a regular guest on KSRO’s The Drive, the only live talk show in Sonoma County. He has written a regular cuisine and culture commentary column for Forbes Magazine and has been contributing editor to COOK'S Magazine. His newly published book American Cheeses, from Simon & Schuster, was called by Alex Witchell of The New York Times "a savvy valentine to the men and women who devote their lives to the labor-intensive passion of cheesemaking." In addition to appearing recently on CBS Sunday Morning, he has appeared on CNN, the TV Food Network, and as a regular contributor on CNBC's "The Real Story”.

Christopher Huber
Direct Sales Manager, Cakebread Cellars

Christopher brings more than two and a half decades of hospitality industry sales and operations to his role of Direct Sales Manager at Cakebread Cellars. Prior to leading the Cakebread Cellars direct sales team he ran his own hospitality consulting business for seven years and also spent ten years with Marriott International in a variety of property and regional leadership roles. Christopher is as passionate about hospitality, food, and travel as he is about fine wine.