Terry Wheatley - Chief Marketing Officer/ Founding Partner
Before founding her own wine company, Terry spent 14 years with Trinchero Family Estates (Sutter Home Winery) holding senior sales and marketing positions including Senior Vice President of Sales and Senior Vice President of Marketing where she was instrumental in the expansion of the infamous Build-A-Better Burger promotion as well as the creator of the “Sutter Home for Hope” breast cancer awareness campaign. During her tenure, she was actively involved with expanding business in national retail and national on-premise accounts.
Terry left Trinchero to create her own wine company where she could work with friends in the wine industry to create delicious, affordable wines with stories that come from life experiences.
Terry began her career at E&J Gallo where she spent over 17 years – ultimately being promoted to Director of On-Premise Marketing before leaving.
twheatley@canopymanagement.net
Brian Wurtz - President/Partner
Before joining Canopy Management as President and partner, Brian was SVP of Sales for Southcorp. Upon the merger of Southcorp and Beringer Blass Wine Estates that formed Foster’s Wine Estates – Brian was appointed the VP Sales- U.S. where he managed sales for approximately 18 million cases. During his tenure, he successfully grew the depletion base through core brand management and new product launches, most notably… Little Penguin.
Brian began his career at E&J Gallo working in various sales roles in all channels of the business. He moved to the distributor side in chain sales management and then to Trinchero Family Estates (working with Terry Wheatley) where he managed sales as the VP for the West, Midwest and National Accounts.
Brian has now joined forces once again with Terry Wheatley, to create and deliver quality wine brands to the marketplace.
Natalie Wassum - Director of Sales and Marketing
A dynamic member of the new generation of wine industry professionals, Natalie brings both a youthful perspective and solid experience to the process of creating, marketing and selling innovative wine brands. A graduate of California Polytechnic University of San Luis Obispo, Natalie began her wine career at Trinchero Family Estates, providing market research and analysis.
She was quickly promoted to the position of Brand Manager, working on National Retail Accounts for the entire Trinchero Family Estates portfolio. Natalie’s strong organizational and analytic abilities, knowledge of the marketplace and customer service orientation were integral to the growth of TFE’s national retail channel during her tenure.
Natalie joined Canopy Management as the Director of Sales & Marketing. Natalie has been a key player in every brand launch, skillfully navigating the details of placing new wine brands into the marketplace as well as participating in brand development with creative input and fresh ideas that will appeal to developing young wine drinkers.
Mary Ann Vangrin - Director of Communications and Social Media, Partner
Mary Ann found her way to the wine business after a career in advertising as a writer/creative director working on accounts such as Gallo. After moving to Napa Valley, she became a communications expert in the wine business, involved in award-winning public relations, social responsibility and corporate communications campaigns for Sterling, Mumm, Robert Mondavi, Sutter Home/Trinchero Family Estates, Domaine Chandon/LVMH and Clos Du Val among others.
Mary Ann is the creative mind behind many of the wine industry’s most influential marketing and public relations initiatives. She brings her talents to Canopy Management to build the brands and engage and connect consumers to the new world of wine, using the innovative communications tools of the 21st Century. Mary Ann is the primary media contact for all Canopy wines.
Mack Hoehner - Vice President, Partner
Twenty plus years in the wine industry managing distributors and working with major customers to expand their business provides just the right expertise to support Canopy’s net phase of growth.
Mack is responsible for the Central, Southwest and Southeast strategic development of all Canopy Management brands dealing with distributors and key customers.
Before joining Canopy Management, Mack held senior positions with Rosemount, Southcorp and most recently Vice President, Southwest Zone for Foster’s Wine Estates where he worked with Brian Wurtz. Mack began his career with Gallo in Oklahoma and Texas and then rose through the Gallo distributor system to Director of Sales of their Houston operation before leaving to join Rosemount.
Kelly Howell – Vice President, Partner
Kelly brings over fifteen years alcoholic beverage experience to Canopy Management. Prior to joining Canopy, she held multiple positions with Foster’s Wine Estates including her most recent role of Vice President of National Accounts On-Premise. Before being promoted to this position, she managed over 1.2 million cases as Regional Sales Manager of the Southwest including Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi which provided extensive distributor and customer management experience.
Her early career began at Frito-Lay before joining Gallo Winery to start her wine adventure. She rose through the ranks while with Gallo…District Manager, Field Marketing, State Manager, Area Manager and finally General Sales Manager for a Texas distributor, managing over 3 million cases of wine and beer.
Cassie Wurtz, Regional Manager, Western States
Cassie has an extensive background in food and wine, earning a culinary degree at the California Culinary Academy where she also received intensive wine training and education. Upon graduation from culinary school, she interned at the internationally-renown Caribou Club in Aspen, Colorado, where she learned the secrets of making Satan Bread.
Most recently, Ms. Wurtz was employed by Southern Wine and Spirits as Chain Division and Merchandising Manager, Pernod Ricard Division. She launched her wine sales career at Southern Wines and Spirits in 2006.
Creativity is a core value of Canopy Management. Brand creation is supported by a bull pen of talented package designers, interactive designers, photographers, illustrators, writers, and wine experts who lend their talents to the development of Canopy Management wines on a brand-by-brand basis.
These artists, widely recognized as leaders in their fields, have longstanding relationships with the Canopy Management principals and share their commitment to excellence and individuality. Canopy Management hand-selects these artisans to work on brands which are especially suited to their diverse styles, guaranteeing that each brand story, look and feel are expressed uniquely. Cookie-cutter copy, design or thinking does not exist at Canopy Management.
The artist associates are integral to visualizing and articulating the brand promise held by every wine in the Canopy Management portfolio.
Tim McDonald – Wine Spoken Here
Tim, a 25 year wine industry veteran, has held positions with E & J Gallo as Marketing Director—Fine Wine Communications and with Peak Wines as Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Tim was Director of Trade Relations for Trinchero Family Estates (where he worked with Terry, Brian and Natalie), and the Director of Trade & Public Relations for Heublein Wines. Tim has also held sales positions with Seagram and Heublein.
Tim’s expertise is in reputation engineering. He provides strategic communications support to all Canopy Management wine brands through his public relations agency, Wine Spoken Here. In addition to Canopy Management and a roster of other clients, Tim possesses one of the most highly experienced palates in the business, and participates on the judging panels of a number of major wine competitions. His tasting skills are called upon during assemblage for all Canopy Management wines.