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.

With nearly 25 years of wine industry experience and relationships, Amy Hoopes has learned the wine business from the ground up.  After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, she joined the E.& J. Gallo’s Management Achievement Program.  Amy benefitted from 10 years of diverse sales and marketing opportunities at Gallo, where she excelled at building brands, new product development, and innovation.  

After learning the ropes at Gallo, Amy spent nearly 14 years with Wente Family Estates.  During her tenure there, she was instrumental in alignment of brand strategy and portfolio mapping, together with Wente 4th and 5th generation family members.  Amy was responsible for heading a long-term brand-driven strategy with the goal of positioning Wente Family Estates as one of the most respected family-owned wineries in the world.

Currently, Amy is the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at The Wine Group.  In this role, she is working across the company to develop and implement a long-range strategic plan that will position The Wine Group for continued growth and success.  Amy will develop and maintain a long-term focus on innovation and growth. 

Amy has served as a member of the Communications Committee for Wine Institute, an executive board member and Past President for Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association, a Member of Monterey County Vintners and Winegrowers Association, the Past President and active member of the San Francisco chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, and recently stepped into the role of Co-President for the San Francisco Chapter of CISV, a global nonprofit focused on educating and inspiring action for a more just and peaceful world.

Amy lives in Pleasanton with her husband and two teenage daughters.

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.

Danny Brager has a wealth of experience in the Beverage Alcohol industry, analyzing trends over many years.  He formerly headed the Nielsen’s Beverage Alcohol Practice Area in the U.S, where he led teams that supported relationships with Nielsen’s clients (suppliers, importers, distributors, and retailers) as well as key industry groups and the media.  In that role, Danny succinctly provided data driven analysis and insights, focused on the U.S. marketplace environment and consumer/shopper.

In 2020, Danny introduced Brager Beverage Alcohol Consulting, providing analysis services to companies seeking to translate market data into fact-based insights in support of their goals.  Each year, he presents at a large number of notable industry and company events, and is a frequent thought leader contributor to the media/press.   His informed opinions are highly respected by the beverage alcohol industry.  Danny is also Managing Director of Category & Consumer Insights at Azur Associates, founded to bring comprehensive advisory and consulting services to wine and spirit companies.

Danny was born in Calgary and moved to Toronto where he graduated from the Schulich School of Business at York University. He relocated to Mission Viejo, California in 1993 where he now resides.