Oregon’s Willamette Valley Vineyards has commenced the search for a CEO as founder Jim Bernau implements his succession plan.
A “rapidly changing” wine industry has prompted Bernau, who set up the business in 1983, to separate the president and CEO positions, with the founder set to retain the former. The recruitment process opened last week, with interested parties invited to contact WVV’s VP of HR, Brittany Galego.
“After more than 40 years at Willamette and at 71 years of age, I need to share the rigorous market travel required,” said Bernau (below), who has overseen the expansion of the listed company beyond Oregon to California and Washington. “The wine market is changing rapidly and I believe we need the additional horsepower of a new CEO and more field sales staff.
“I believe having the leadership of the company held by two separate persons will help invigorate our brand with distributors, retailers and restaurants across the nation and help establish new markets across the world.”
The group has grown from its home alongside Oregon’s Willamette River to hold around 1,000 acres of owned vineyards in the US. In its latest results, for the nine months to the end of September, WVV’s year-on-year sales were flat (+0.4%) at US$28.5m.
