Paul van der Lee’s 25-years’ experience in the Australian wine sector includes running businesses, building export markets, leadership within wine sector organisations and educating wine business leaders.

Within the sector, Paul’s previous roles include: Chief Executive for a medium-size winery; independent wine business strategist in wine economics, policy analysis and export business development; and adjunct lecturer at the University of Adelaide Business School, where he supported the Master of Wine Business program. He was also an Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (a precursor to Wine Australia) board member and economics and policy manager at the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia.

Paul is the Principal of VAN DER LEE & ASSOCIATES.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-van-der-lee-gaicd-97bb2161/

Working extensively in the wine sector, Darren helps companies grow, acquire new customers and improve product and operational performance. He is focused on building all aspects of business and sector organisations to drive customer value across the whole wine sector. His clients include large, medium and small wine businesses, wine suppliers, wine regions, industry associations, universities and government.

Darren develops and delivers innovative experiential learning programs on business consulting, real-time learning programs on customer engagement, as well as leadership training to government and universities.

He is on the advisory board of three start-up businesses in the fields of education, health and information technology. He advises growth businesses in areas including wine production, tourism, beverage manufacturing and medicine, is Chair of Surfing South Australia and mentors in the Innovyz and the Venture Dorm business accelerators.

Darren is the Marketing Director of Hydra Consulting.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenoemcke/  

Liz has 25 years’ experience in export marketing roles; including 15 years spent working with small and medium-sized enterprises in the wine sector at various levels of the supply chain. She owned and operated successful wine export businesses over an eight-year period, exporting to Japan and the USA.  She later settled in the Margaret River wine region, taking on Export Sales and Marketing Manager roles with Stella Bella Wines and now Flametree Wines, taking responsibility for a diverse range of markets. 

Liz also consults in wine export and marketing, including developing and delivering the 2017 Wine Export Workshops Series in Western Australia. In addition, Liz has been employed by Curtin University to deliver export marketing, wine marketing education and regularly speaks on wine export and wine excellence.

Liz is the Principal of Purple Feet wine export and marketing consulting.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-mencel-93a67011/

Simon has extensive experience in wine export, branding, sales, general management and online retail. He specialises in building brands for global markets with a specific focus on taking Australia's best wine brands to the USA.

His roles have included General Manager of Wine for CatchOfTheDay.com.au, General Manager for Wine at GraysOnline, Sales and Marketing Manager of Reschke Wines and Asia Manager for Xanadu/Norman Wines. He is also on the Board of Australian Vignerons.

Simon is the Director of Fullglass wine industry consulting.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/westsimon/

Ron is a highly experienced facilitator, business coach and leader in collaborative contracting with a wine sector focus. He works with a wide range of businesses on business development, growth strategy, business improvement and project implementation.

A Business Development specialist, he has led business development for Camms Automation, national sales for Columbit and held the role of General Manager of FB*Propak. He has experience across the wine, beverage, food and manufacturing sectors, with a particular focus on client development, lead generation, supply chain management and quality control.

Ron has been a company director, led business start-ups and driven growth for companies for 30 years.

Ron is the Managing Director of Hydra Consulting.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-van-buuren-742a8a55/