CONTACT US

Office

Oregon Wine Center is located in the historic Albers Mill Building at 1200 NW Naito Parkway • Suite 400 • Portland, OR 97209. e-mail: info@oregonwine.org • phone: 503.228.8336 • fax: 503.228.8337

Team

Stephany Boettner • Marketing & Communications Director
Stephany Boettner graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. After a brief political reporting stint on Capitol Hill, Stephany decided that public relations was her true calling. A five year PR and marketing professional, she started her career at Griffin & Company in Washington, DC, where she was an Account Manager. She was then Account Supervisor at Euro RSCG Magnet, a worldwide public relations agency. In her role as Senior Communications Manager with the Oregon Wine Board, Stephany provides strategic PR counsel and serves as the primary media relations contact for the Oregon Wine industry. She also coordinates all industry communications and is involved in branding and marketing collateral development.

Katie Stoll-Bray •  Marketing & Events Director
Katie Stoll-Bray graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and a Certificate of International Studies in Business. In 1997 she moved to Paris where she became Assistant Director of Washington State's Economic Development Department European Office. During her time there, she helped more than 100 Pacific Northwest companies do business in European markets. In 2002 she was hired as Program Director for the Washington State International Trade Fair Office in Seattle, where she managed PNW pavilions at major international trade shows.

The next year Katie returned to her native Oregon and put her experience to work for the wine industry. With the help of a nearly $200,000 annual grant from the USDA, she manages the export marketing program for the Oregon Wine Board. Her other activities include organizing the Oregon Wine Industry Symposium and managing Oregon Bounty and other developing promotions. Katie also serves as the Center's financial coordinator.

Hannelore Buckenmeyer • Senior Project Director
Hannelore Buckenmeyer earned her Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from George Washington University and her MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. She began her 12 year marketing career with the Food Processing Machinery & Supplies Association, where she promoted international sales opportunities to association members. After receiving her MBA, she went to work for Procter & Gamble as an Assistant Brand Manager in the Paper Division.

Hannelore helped to help launch Procter & Gamble's foray into eCommerce, with customized beauty product website, Reflect.com. She managed San Francisco-based Reflect.com's marketing programs. Hannelore became the Category Manager for eBay's fledgling Health & Beauty category, which she helped to grow into a $62M business.  In her role as Sr. Project Director for the Oregon Wine Board, she leads a variety of marketing initiatives including Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine (OCSW) and all website development and online marketing programs.

Annie Cocchia • Marketing Manager
Annie first came to Oregon to attend the University of Portland where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Business with a double concentration in Management and Marketing.  She spent the next six years at RCM in San Francisco, starting as a Business Development Associate.  Gaining responsibility and honing her web and collateral material design skills along the way, she worked her way up to the role of Assistant VP and Senior Graphic Designer.  Seeing an opportunity to move back to the Oregon she so loved, Annie took a position with SOLV in 2006, producing all of their marketing materials and website.  As Marketing Coordinator with the Oregon Wine Board, Annie manages vendor relations and sponsorship of the Oregon Wine Industry Symposium, provides support to the Research and Export Committees, and puts her graphic and web design skills to work on a number of OWB initiatives.

Lavonda Driskell • Operations Manager
Lavonda Driskell has spent 20+ years supporting C-suite executives in managing their diverse responsibilities and coordinating office operations.  Lavonda supports our Executive Director, Ted Farthing, as well as manages the day-to-day operations of the OWB and OWA.

Ted Farthing • Executive Director
Ted Farthing earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The State University of New York, College at New Paltz and his MBA from Binghamton University. He is a seventeen year marketing veteran with extensive experience in premium beverages. Ted has served as Brand Manager for Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Ruffino and developed new spirit brands for Diageo, the world's largest wine and spirits producer. He was Senior Brand Manager for Poland Spring, the largest spring water brand in the US, and eventually managed all consumer promotions and sponsorships for parent company Nestle Waters, which included brands like Arrowhead, Calistoga, San Pellegrino and Perrier.

Before moving to the West Coast and returning to the wine business, Ted was Director of Marketing for New York-based change management consultancy Mercer Delta. He is now the Executive Director of the Oregon Wine Board, the Oregon Winegrowers' Association and TOWER, the Trust for Oregon Wine Education and Research. Ted sits on the Boards of the National Grape and Wine Initiative, the Northwest Wine Coalition, the Oregon Culinary Tourism Association, Benchmark Consulting and the Bite of Oregon.

Colu Henry • Public Relations Manager
Colu Henry will join the Oregon Wine Board February 1, 2010.  

Board Directors

Sam Tannahill • Chair • A to Z Wineworks  • 503.554.1918
Sam Tannahill graduated from Washington and Lee with an East Asian Studies degree that he uses on a daily basis in the winery.  After traveling through Central Asia for a year he settled down working in the wineries and vineyards of Burgundy at Domaine De L’Arlot for two years and managed to bluff his way to a post-graduate degree in winemaking from the University de Dijon.  He reentered the wine industry in the United States by working with Ted Lemon at Littorai, but soon heard the siren song of Yamhill County, Oregon and Archery Summit.  Seven years later, after laying a foundation as winemaker at Archery Summit, he decided the time was ripe and stuck out for further fame, glory and new horizons in the form of A to Z Wineworks with his wife, Cheryl Francis, and Bill and Deb Hatcher.  A to Z expanded in 2007 with the purchase of Rex Hill winery. Sam and Cheryl also own Francis Tannahill – a winery and biodynamic vineyard founded in 2001.  Sam and Cheryl made wines for Le Cadeau – a small Pinot Noir project in Oregon.  He was also winemaker for Shea Wine Cellars from 2001 – 2004 Other projects have been consulting for various wineries including Battle Creek, Sawtooth and Zelko.  As if that wasn’t enough to think about he also is enjoying his 5 year old son, Theo, and his 3 year old son, Oliver and his new 4 month old daughter, Stella.


David Adelsheim • Vice Chair • Adelsheim Vineyard • 503.538.3652
David Adelsheim is President and an owner of Adelsheim Vineyard in Newberg, which for almost 30 years has been producing Pinot noir, Pinot gris, Pinot blanc and Chardonnay. Adelsheim worked with Oregon State University to set up a clonal importation program that has given growers access to European vines better suited to Oregon's growing conditions. He also drafted Oregon's strict labeling regulations that help maintain quality, is a past Chair of the Oregon Wine Board, and was a founder and Director and President of both the International Pinot Noir Celebration and Oregon Pinot Camp (two of the industry's most successful promotional events). He was instrumental to the formation of the new Oregon Wine Board by leading the effort to garner industry-wide consensus.

 
Kara Olmo  • Secretary • Wooldridge Creek Vineyard & Winery • 541.846.6364
Marketing Committee Chair
Kara Olmo is co-owner of Wooldridge Creek Winery in Grants Pass.  Kara relocated to the Applegate Valley to start a small winery focusing on premium blends after attending the enology program at California State University, Fresno.  She gained wine industry experience working for the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission where she worked to promote regional recognition of the Lodi area. Kara currently serves as a board member for the Greater Applegate Community Development Corporation and the Three Rivers District Schools Foundation as well as being an active member of the Southern Oregon Winery Association, Rogue Valley Winegrowers Association and the Applegate Valley Vintners Association.

 
Tim Kennedy •  Treasurer • Don Carlo Vineyard •  209.793.6251
Tim Kennedy and his wife, Lori, are founders, owners and winemakers at Don Carlo Vineyard established in 2007.  The vineyard is planted on 12.5 acres in Milton-Freewater.  Plans are to build a winery and tasting room in 2010.  The grape varieties planted are chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc.  The first release of their Walla Walla Valley Wines will occur in the spring of 2010. Tim retired from Tim's Cascade Potato Chips in 2005 after starting the business in 1986. Tim has served on numerous business boards and commissions and currently serves on the board of Milton-Freewater Chamber of Commerce.

 
Harry Peterson-Nedry • Chehalem • 503.538.4700
Harry Peterson-Nedry is founder and co-owner of Chehalem, a premium winery in Newberg, producing Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Dry Riesling from its three estate vineyards - Ridgecrest, Stoller and Coral Creek. Peterson-Nedry has served on the boards of Oregon Pinot Camp, the International Pinot Noir Celebration and the Oregon Wine Marketing Coalition.

 
Terry Brandborg • Brandborg Vineyards & Winery •  541.584.2870
Terry Brandborg started making wine in California as an amateur in 1975.  He founded Brandborg Cellars in 1986 focusing on cool climate varietals from some of the best California AVAs for those wine types.  He admired the Oregon industry from the time of his first invitation to pour pinot noir at IPNC in 1994.  Terry and his wife, Sue, married in 2001 and began a search for the ideal locale to grow pinot noir.  They discovered Elkton in the coolest northwest corner of the Umpqua Valley and moved from California in January 2002.  They started planting their estate vineyard and built a winery in Elkton that year.  They became involved in the Umpqua Winegrowers Association where Terry served on the board for six years, two as president.  He and Sue are also active in the Southern Oregon Winegrowers Association and participate in the Oregon Riesling group.  Terry serves on the Oregon Winegrowers Association and Oregon Wine Board Research Committee.
 

Leigh Bartholomew •  Dominio IV Winery •  503.864.4300
Leigh Bartholomew has worked in the Oregon wine industry for ten years as a vineyard manager at a winery in Yamhill County and as a vineyard owner in the Columbia Gorge.

 
David P. Beck • Crawford Beck Vineyard LLC •  503.835.0828
A graduate of Princeton University and the Johns Hopkins University, David Beck completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.  His scientific background is in biochemistry and genetics, and he worked for more than forty years in research and science administration.  David and his wife, Jeanne, also a scientist, share a life long passion in wine, and they have traveled extensively to visit vineyards all over the world.  When it came time to consider their next career (they use the terms refocus and refinance, instead of retire), David and Jeanne chose farming wine grapes in Oregon, whose spectacular wines they had long admired.

They operate the Crawford Beck Vineyard in Amity, Oregon.  The vineyard is on a 48 acres farm and currently 15 acres are planted with vines producing ultra-premium pinot noir, pinot gris, and chardonnay.  Strong advocates of sustainable farming, the Becks have obtained LIVE and Salmon Safe certifications for their vineyard.  David is also an advocate of advancing the wine grape industry through research, and he has been active on the Oregon Wine Board’s Research Committee.
 

Michael Donovan • RoxyAnn Winery •  541.776.2315
Michael Donovan has worked to support the wine industry in Oregon since 1973.  Since 2003, he has been the managing director and a minority shareholder of RoxyAnn Winery in Medford, OR.  He has served as a member of the Marketing Committee of the Oregon Wine Board since 2008.  Michael was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Oregon Wine Board for service to the Oregon wine industry in 2008.

Advocacy Team

Jesse (Jess) Lyon • Davis Wright Tremaine • 503.778.5268
Jess Lyon serves the OWA as general counsel for all advocacy and legislative matters.  He focuses his practice on transactions and regulatory issues for clients in the wine, food, beverage and agribusiness industries. He helps structure and negotiate asset acquisitions, and develops strategic agreements for manufacturing, distribution, licensing and marketing. Jess advises clients in a full range of related work, from real estate transactions to trademark licensing.
Jess speaks with regional winery groups throughout the Pacific Northwest, and has discussed management of industry-specific legal opportunities and pitfalls in presentations to the membership of the International Culinary Tourism Association.

Gary Conkling • Conkling Fiskum & McCormick • 503.294.9120
Gary Conklin is a co-founder of Conkling Fiskum & McCormick “CFM” and its managing partner. His practice includes state lobbying and strategic communications.  Gary is an adjunct faculty member at Willamette University's Atkinson Graduate School of Management, teaching a course on crisis communications and issues management.