Educated at Marlborough and Durham, I joined Waverley Vintners as a graduate trainee in 1984. Selling wines and spirits to clubs in Dagenham and Romford was an interesting introduction to real life. After working with Robin Kinahan MW as assistant wine buyer I moved to John Sarson (Evereds' Brewery) as Wine Buyer in 1987 then to J Sainsbury in 1989. In 1992 I joined the other side of the fence setting up and running Hugh Ryman's UK Sales and Marketing office. In 1996 I joined D&D Wines as Sales and Marketing Director. In mid 2000, I moved to set up Simeon wines’ export office in Europe.

Industry sector(s): Marketing, Sales, Distribution, Off trade, On trade

Wine styles: Champagne

Wine region expertise: Champagne

Market expertise: Europe, United Kingdom

Specialisms: Marketing wine, Financial and commercial structures, Supplier/customer relationships, Identifying and meeting consumer demand, Routes to market, Importation, Distribution, HORECA, Supermarket and multiple retail, Independent retail, Food and wine pairing, Restaurant wines, Wine tourism, Branding