Jessah served as the Marketing Manager of National Brands and DTC at Rutherford Wine Company developing marketing assets and campaigns for the retail market, as well as digital assets and programming for eCommerce and DTC. Her prior experience at Pernod Ricard USA, and in wholesale distribution at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, informs her work today and provided an early start with a diverse portfolio of brands in both a DTC capacity, as well as in retail markets. Prior to working in the wine and spirits industry, she worked in the competitive and fast-paced world of sports sales, marketing and events for both The Madison Square Garden Company and The University of Arkansas Athletic Department. Jessah is a WSET Level II graduate with Distinction, and she is currently studying for the WSET Level III. She serves as the Chair of the Workshops Subcommittee for the 2023 Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium.

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

He now leads the world’s first wine discovery platform, Pix (pix.wine). As one of the largest online wine selections in the world, Pix helps consumers discover the wines they are searching for, ways to buy those wines, and other wines to buy. 

He is considered the wine industry’s foremost futurist and thought leader, harnessing 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.

As a sixteen year veteran of winery DTC sales, Leah manages the DTC eCommerce and email marketing for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates brands in Washington, Oregon and California. Her experience includes managing operations, wine club and ecommerce sales. She earned an MBA in Wine Business from Sonoma State University in 2011. In 2015 Leah received a Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Cheers Award in the Energizing Customers category for her contribution to outstanding results in the DTC channel.  Her work includes volunteering as a member of the Direct To Consumer Symposium steering committee from 2019-2022. Along with wine and the wine business, Leah enjoys serving as a mentor for women in business, especially in the creative and handmade categories, and as a small business owner selling online, at local shows and as the host of Vintagelandia Market in Napa.