Joseph W. Ciatti
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Joe Ciatti traces his family history in the wine industry to the founding by his grandfather of Geyser Peak Winery in 1934, which remained under family control until 1971. In 1971, Joe entered the wine brokerage business. Today, Joseph W. Ciatti & Co. has offices in the U.S., Chile, Argentina, France, Australia, and Canada and is the largest broker of grapes and bulk wine in the U.S.. Joe is widely recognized as a leading expert in the dynamics of the global market for grapes and bulk wine.

Richard N. Shell
Chief Operating Officer
Richard Shell is a director of Wine Business Communications, publisher of Wine Business Monthly, Wine Business Insider, and Wines & Vines, leading wine industry trade publications, and was former CEO and publisher of Wine Business Monthly. Richard is a former corporate and real estate attorney, where he was involved in numerous real estate and financing transactions over the course of his legal career.

Tamara D. Fischer
Chief Financial Officer
Tamara Fischer was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chateau Communities, Inc., a publicly-traded REIT, from its formation in August 1993 until October 2003 when the company was acquired by a private operator. Prior to that, Tamara was employed by Coopers & Lybrand for ten years, where she specialized in the real estate audit practice.

Charles A. Johnson
Vice President, Acquisitions
Charles "Chuck" Johnson has more than 20 years of experience in the finance industry, where he has specialized in the credit quality and strategies of wineries and grape growers, and has arranged numerous debt financings in the wine industry. Chuck acted as a principal in connection with the 2001 leveraged buy-out of Freemark Abbey Winery, located in Napa Valley, where he remained as Chief Financial Officer until June 2002. Chuck worked at Farm Credit Bank in the Pacific Northwest from 1981-1987.

Brian P. Shea
Senior Vice President & Corporate Controller
Brian Shea was Senior Vice President & Corporate Controller for The PMI Group, Inc., (NYSE:PMI), a global diversified credit enhancement company with $5 billion in total assets and over $1 billion in total revenues. In his eleven-plus years with The PMI Group, Brian was responsible for GAAP, SEC and Statutory accounting policies and reporting, financial planning and analysis and taxation, as well as providing oversight of the company’s implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and SEC and NYSE regulatory reforms.