 Speaker Biographies
 Andreas Clark, Chief Executive Officer, Wine Australia
Andreas has led Wine Australia since its inception on 1 July 2014. Prior to that, he held a number of senior management roles with the former Wine Australia Corporation.
Before joining the wine sector, Andreas served as a diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra and Brunei and has also worked as a lawyer in private practice and in-house with an ASX-listed company.
He holds a Master of Laws from the Australian National University and Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from Flinders University and is admitted to practice in South Australia. He has also completed a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia and the Authentic Leadership Program at Harvard University.
 Rebecca Hopkins, Vice President - Communications & Partner, Folio Fine Wine Partners, and Founder, A Balanced Glass
Rebecca Hopkins is an experienced wine communications strategist, speaker, moderator, host and writer. With a 26-year career in the wine business spanning Australia and the U.S., Rebecca founded and launched A Balanced Glass in March 2018 with a mission to provide education and resources to industry colleagues to help maintain health and wellbeing while working in the beverage alcohol industry.
Raised in the premium wine region of McLaren Vale, South Australia, and a graduate of wine business from the University of Adelaide, Rebecca spent 15 years in the Australian wine industry in sales, marketing, distribution and communication roles before relocating to San Francisco in 2007 with Constellation Brands as Vice President of Public Relations and National Events. She returned to family winemaking in 2012, joining national importer Folio Fine Wine Partners, owned by the Michael Mondavi Family, and today leads the communications strategy and programming for the 20+ family-owned producers who share a national marketing and sales presence in the US market. |
 Kathy Marlin, Senior Vice President | General Manager, Negociants USA | Winebow Imports
Kathy Marlin is one of the most dynamic and accomplished female executives in the US wine business, with an already dense catalog of experience spanning importing and distribution, brand development, strategic planning and public relations. As SVP/GM of Negociants USA, Kathy oversees the leading collection of Australian, New Zealand and South African wines sold in the US and occupies a crucial role in one of the largest distribution, and leading premium import companies in the United States.
Kathy took a very fortuitous leap into the wine business after completing her university studies in linguistics and psychology. In 2000 she landed in brand management and PR at Mark Anthony, Canada’s leading global import and distribution house, and quickly set about building brands from Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, France and Italy. Her knack for Antipodean wines in particular led the Yalumba Wine Company to appoint Kathy to open its first Canadian office, in 2004, where she grew national business by 40 percent and delivered profit margins that far exceeded those of the company’s previous 20 years north of the border.
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 Justin Dry, Co-Founder & CEO, Vinomofo
Justin Dry is an Entrepreneur, Investor and Co-Founder + CEO of Vinomofo, one of Australia’s fastest-growing companies.
Launched in April 2011 from a little garage in Adelaide, Vinomofo now operates in Australia, NZ and Singapore.
Winners of Fastest Growing Company at the Deloitte Tech Fast 50 Awards 2013, Online Business of the Year at the Australian Startup Awards 2014, Best Startup at the SmartCompany Startup Awards 2014, Online Retailer of the Year 2015 at the ORIA’s, Telstra Business of the Year - Victorian Telstra Business Awards 2016, Hot Innovator 2017 at the Power Retail awards and Hottest Aussie Online Retailer and the StartCon E-commerce Company of the Year 2018, amongst many others.
Justin was also personally awarded Spotify Young Entrepreneur of the Year at The Australian Startup Awards and has been named one of the Top 50 People in E-Commerce 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 by Internet Retailing.
Justin is a regular on TV and radio shows which have included Squawk Box - CNBC Asia, Bloomberg Asia, Sky News Business, The Business - ABC, Channel 9 News, Insight – SBS, The Entrepreneurs Show – Sky Business and was one of the stars of the film ‘The New Hustle’ – a feature-length documentary that follows the personal journey of three of Australia's most successful startups.
Outside of his business, Justin is a husband, dad, wine lover and islomaniac.
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 Facilitated by Damien Wilson, PhD Hamel Family Chair of the Wine Business Institute, Sonoma State University
Dr. Damien Wilson is the inaugural Hamel Family Chair of Wine Business Education with SSU's Wine Business Institute. Dr. Wilson arrived in California in 2015 with 20 years of professional experience in the wine sector. This commercial experience facilitated him achieving the first-ever Honors Degree in Wine Business with the University of Adelaide, and this qualification is among his four degrees in the discipline of Wine Business. He joins us from Burgundy's School of Wine and Spirits Business, having established a European professorial career after having started with the University of South Australia in 1999.
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