Aileen Sevier is Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison, Virginia. Early Mountain is committed to producing elegant Virginia wines that are both accessible and exceptional. Voted #1 Tasting Room in America by USA Today, Early Mountain has received accolades from the likes of Wine Advocate, Robb Report, Wine Enthusiast, Food & Wine Magazine, among others. Aileen previously managed a global portfolio of iconic family-owned wineries at Terlato Wines International and directed the beverage program at Legal Sea Foods, a multi-unit restaurant group renowned for its wine program. Throughout her career, she has combined a passion for wine with a love of business strategy. Aileen graduated with honors from Kenyon College with a BA in Anthropology and Asian Studies and Brandeis University’s International MBA program. She is currently a candidate in the prestigious Institute of Masters of Wine program studying the art, science and business of wine. 

Janiene Ullrich, Direct to Consumer Executive Vice President of The Family Coppola, has over twenty years of wine industry experience growing eCommerce sales, launching new tasting rooms, developing innovative customer experiences, and evolving wine clubs.  She currently oversees hospitality, club, eCommerce, and merchandising for Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Francis Ford Coppola Winery Too, Domaine de Broglie, and Cafe Zoetrope.  Her experience includes previous management of The Family Coppola resorts in Belize, Guatemala, and Italy. She joined The Family Coppola in 2000 and built her career while earning her Bachelor of Art History degree from University of California, Berkeley. Her unique worldly experience lends to an authentic, thought-provoking outlook on hospitality and customer retention.

Paul Mabray has been a powerful change agent in the wine industry for over twenty years. He began his career working in traditional three-tier sales and marketing with Napa Ale Works and later innovated direct-to-consumer sales and marketing models with Niebaum Coppola. 

Since then, he has been at the forefront of all major digital trends for the wine industry, including working with WineShopper.com and Wine.com when they entered the wine-digital space. He founded two companies that have significantly changed the US wine landscape for digital, first by introducing winery e-commerce with Inertia Beverage Group that transformed into WineDirect.com pioneering winery e-commerce, and then again by introducing social media and social customer relationship management with VinTank.com. 

He is considered the wine industry’s foremost futurist and thought leader, able to harness the power and potential of digital tools and methodologies to move the industry into the future.

Rob McMillan is one of the top wine-business analysts in the United States and the author of Silicon Valley Bank’s highly regarded annual State of the Wine Industry Report. With decades of experience researching the wine business, his views are sought after and trusted by winery owners, journalists, entrepreneurs and investors. He is a prominent speaker, both domestically and internationally, and he is extensively quoted in national, regional and trade press. He has also been named several times as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People in the US wine industry.

 
Rob’s banking career has spanned 35-plus years — more than 25 with Silicon Valley Bank. In that time, he has held positions of increasing responsibility, including division manager of the Wine Group, executive manager of the bank’s Commercial Division and several years as a member of Silicon Valley Bank’s Managing Committee. He is currently responsible for establishing new winery relationships and offers private management presentations and strategic consulting to the bank’s clients across the portfolio.

Rob received a bachelor’s degree in finance/economics from Sacramento State University and an MBA from Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. He has served on boards in diverse industries and continues to be an advisor to wineries and industry associations across the wine business.

 
Rob is a father of two. He enjoys the outdoors, travel and golf and takes any opportunity to play percussion and drums in live settings.