appointments
100
Beverage Media
November 2012
AVENÍU BRANDS
Aveníu Brands has appoint-
ed
Cory Sibley
as National
Sales Director. Sibley comes
with over 30 years of wine
industry experience, includ-
ing a proven track record
at Aveníu Brands, where
he previously served as VP,
Northeast Division, oversee-
ing a 13% increase in sales
over the past two years. Prior,
he worked at Brown-Forman
as VP and Division Director
for Brown-Forman’s North-
east Region and VP-Senior
Commercial Director for
their East division. Aveníu
Brands has also realigned
their national sales divisions
under Zone Director leader-
ship. Rick Roman is now
Zone Director Northeast.
PETER LEHMANN
Matt Lane
has been ap-
pointed VP, Peter Lehmann
Wines Americas for Peter
Lehmann, the Barossa Val-
ley, Australia winery. Most
recently, Lane was with
Treasury Wine Estates as the
Americas’ Sales Director for
the luxury Heirloom Wine
Group. He will be based in
Napa at The Hess Collection
Winery, of which Peter Leh-
mann is a member. In this
role, Lane will undertake ex-
tensive wine education pro-
grams to raise awareness, and
appreciation of the Peter Le-
hmann portfolio among dis-
tributor and retailer partners
in Canada, the U.S. and the
Americas.
SCHMITT SOHNE USA
Schmitt Sohne USA has
announced the addition of
Chris McCallister
to their
sales team as Vice Presi-
dent, National Account
Development. McCallister
is charged with sales growth
of the Schmitt Sohne port-
folio of wines to national
off-premise accounts and is
reporting directly to Schmitt
Sohne USA president, Chris
Klau. McCallister comes to
Schmitt Sohne USA from
Glazer’s Distributing where
he held the post of Vice
President, Trade Develop-
ment for the past 16 months.
Prior to Glazer’s, he held top
account management posi-
tions for E & J Gallo win-
ery in Texas, Michigan and
Minnesota. Schmitt Sohne
USA is the largest importer
of German wines in the U.S.
having topped one million
cases in 2010.
Rodney Strong
Wine Estates recently hired
Andr ew Bl ock
a s Vi ce
President Sales Northeast.
Block brings a unique blend
of experience that includes
and extends beyond the
beverage alcohol business.
He comes directly out of the
telecommunications indus-
try, where he was a Senior
Director of Strategic Trans-
formation of U.S. Sales with
T-Mobile USA. In addition,
Block has extensive expe-
rience with wine industry
channel management, dis-
tributor relations and sales
strategy
implementation.
His most recent beverage
alcohol position was with
Diageo Chateau & Estate
Wines as the General Sales
Manager, East.
New york SLA
The New York State Liquor
Authority announced the
appointment of
Jean Marie
Cho
,
Esq. as Counsel to the
Authority. She will be sta-
tioned in the New York City
office and will be overseeing
Counsel’s Office statewide.
Cho comes to the agency,
most recently, from the New
York State Commission to
Modernize the Regulation
of Financial Services. Prior
to her work on the Commis-
sion, Jean Marie served as
General Counsel and Corpo-
rate Secretary to the Board
of Directors at Delos Insur-
ance Group (formerly, Sirius
America Insurance Com-
pany). Ms. Cho was previ-
ously an Assistant Attorney
General with the NYS AG’s
office in the Investor Protec-
tion and Securities Bureau.
She is a member of both the
New York State and New
Jersey Bar.
Jordan Vineyard
Jordan Vineyard &Winery in
Sonoma’s Alexander Valley
has appointed
Greg Miller
to the position of Director
of Wine. Miller brings more
than 15 years experience in
wine service, education, viti-
culture, and both classic and
contemporary winemaking to
the newly created position,
having most recently worked
at Quintessa in Napa Valley.
Miller will be interwoven
into many of the venerable
winery’s departments, includ-
ing winemaking, viticulture,
hospitality, communications
and sales.
