Age as of March 1, 2024: 61

Residence Location:    Napa, California

Place of Operation:      Napa, California

Business Experience: For the past 24 years I have been the majority shareholder and President of Silverado Farming. Silverado provides vineyard management services in Napa and Sonoma Counties. Our focus in working with wineries who produce Cabernet and Pinot Noir. Our winery customers are some of the most recognized wine brands in the industry. Within the company we have formed a foundation that donates one percent of our gross  revenue to fund  farm  worker  issues  and  at  risk  youth  in  our

community. In 2024 we donate over 300,000 dollars. We have a profit-sharing program for all full time staff which number over 150. Each year we share 10% of the net revenue with staff. In 2022 we created the position of Farm Worker Advocate. Their role is working with our staff on connecting community services as well as working with employees’ children on the college application process and then following them through their college careers. Long term the company will be sold to key employees who have the same approach to business.

Education: Bachelors in Ag Business

Current Boards: Silverado Farming Company, Lapelle Wines, Taylor Street Real Estate Investors, Napa Valley Real Estate Investors Juarez Street Investors, AMMP Vineyard Leasing Company

Strategic & Visionary Thinking: We spend a large amount of time on Vision. In 2022 we held a company off-site for 40% of our full-time work force to create the 2032 vision, the mission statement and our value statement. This work was all done with dual translation in Spanish and English. A smaller group of five people did the final edits and then presented the work to the entire company. Each year at our off site we create the yearly plan that moves us towards the 2032 vision.

Corporate Governance: Organizational Structure and Governance is something I really enjoy. We are strong believers in the chain of command and job descriptions. Each week we have a leadership meeting that has a formal agenda. Topics are reviewed and team members are expected to report back to their individual teams. We have a formal process for how an employee can be on the leadership team.

Financial Expertise: One of the things that makes us different it the amount of time we spend on financials we report out once a month to our leadership team. We use weekly dash boards to review A/R, profit by week, hours billed, unbilled hours. Metrics have been established to track performance on all of these plus many others. While it’s not required, we share our monthly financials with our banks.

Communication: As a high-touch company we work hard to maintain communication with customers. The first question always is how does someone want to be communicated with? Text, phone, email. Decision making in our vineyards always includes input from our winery customers. I have found with the more uses of various forms of communication it is something we have to work on constantly.

Technology: Lots of time with excel spread sheets. We have also started to look at our we present our data using platforms like Tableau.

Human Resource Management: With 600 employees we spend a lot of time of HR. Staying on top of current labor laws is very important. We have a great relationship with our labor lawyer. She works with our Director of Human Resources on quarterly audits of timecards, pay stubs and new hires to ensure we are working to the letter of the law.

Risk Management: Risk management in our business is really about the never-ending threat of Class Action Lawsuits. Our labor lawyer is very important for this. 15 years ago, we moved our insurance to an office in Fresno. We felt we needed someone who worked in big agriculture who could give us insight into what was happening in other areas of California.

Leadership: We spend a lot of time talking about leadership styles and what they mean. Mine has evolved over time. Currently I ask myself at the end of the workday. “Did I inspire anyone or did I sacrifice for anyone today.” Many days I don’t have an answer but it’s my aspirational goal.