Anthony Gismondi is one of North America’s most influential wine critics.  A writer and broadcaster he is widely respected throughout the international wine community.  He is currently in his 14^th year at Wine Access, Canada’s national wine magazine.  He begins his 22^nd year as the weekly wine columnist at the Vancouver Sun where his weekend column is viewed by some one million readers and his comprehensive wine website www.gismondionwine.com attracts some 650,000 hits a month from 70 countries.  Anthony is also co-host of the longest running, weekly, wine and food show in Canada, The Best of Food and Wine, now on Thursdays, prime time from 6 pm to 7 pm on AM650.  In his spare time he writes regular wine columns in Calgary’s city magazine, Avenue, and Pique Newsmagazine, a weekly publication serving the resort community of Whistler, British Columbia.

Glenn Sigurdson, QC, has recently been appointed to the NAFTA Advisory Group to deal with international private commercial disputes as one of the Canadian non-government members.  Glenn has co-authored Building Consensus for a Sustainable Future: Putting Principles into Practice and The Dialogue Forum Handbook.  He is one of the practitioners profiled in the publication of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (2000):  Public Dispute Mediators:  Profiles of 15 Distinguished Careers.  Glenn is currently associated with Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, where he is an Adjunct Professor and an Associate of the Learning Strategies Group in the Faculty of Business.

The passionate interest of friends in the wine industry not only inspired him to study Cellar Technology, but, together with his own regard for the French winemaking tradition, laid the foundation for his own style and philosophy of winemaking.  Marc’s first vintage took off without the benefit of promotion, and third party endorsement has ensured sold-out vintages ever since.  In 2007 Marc was awarded the title of “Diners Club Winemaker of the Year” for his Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 2005.  The latest Robert Parker Wine Buyer’s Guide and the 2009 Wine Report acknowledges Boekenhoutskloof as South Africa’s #1 producer.

Maureen is a candidate for the Masters in Resource Management degree from the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University.  Her thesis work involves an examination of disclosure via produce labeling with particular emphasis on the environmental labeling programs within the wine industry.  Prior to her graduate work, Maureen worked for a number of years in the environmental consulting business in the San Francisco Bay Area, which provided ample opportunity to experience many of California’s wine producing regions.  She holds a bachelors degree in Environmental Science from State University of New York, College at Geneseo.

Rodrigo has more than a decade worth of experience in marketing wines from the most prestigious Chilean wine growing regions.  During his career as International Brand Manager for Santa Rita he worked on developing new Chilean premium wines throughout the world such as Triple C, Floresta, Medalla Real and 120 Reserva Especial.  Since coming to Caliterra in 2007 Rodrigo has taken the winery up to becoming one of the environmental benchmarks for Chile.  The Caliterra Environmentally Friendly Project has developed important actions in various fields such as sustainable viticulture, community commitment, environmental protection and eco-friendly packaging.  Together with Talca University, Caliterra has worked in developing the Chilean Sustainability Code, protocol that will unify all of the independent eco-actions and develop the sustainable certification for the Chilean wine industry.

A 23 year veteran commercial litigator who has acted against provincial liquor regulators in some of Canada's highest profile regulatory review cases (ie) Magnotta Winery Corporation v. the LCBO).  He is a specialist in laws pertaining to the manufacturing, distribution, promotion, sale and consumption of beverage alcohol and an expert in trade law and practice for beverage alcohol in Canada and abroad.  He designed one of the country’s first licensed online wine distribution systems, THE WINE CONNECTION and recently engaged in an analysis questioning the constitutional validity of some federal liquor law.  He continues selectively to advise companies in the beverage alcohol business with legal counsel.

Dr. Peter Williams is a strategic planner, researcher and educator.  He addresses          issues related to the development, marketing and on-going management of tourism destination, products and services.  As Director of Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Tourism Policy and Research, his research focuses on identifying emerging forms of consumer behaviour  related to various forms of development including wine tourism.  Peter conducted several projects related to measuring consumer responses to a variety of emerging sustainable development certification and branding programs.  He teaches courses worldwide in environmental policy, planning and management practice.

Since 1992, José has held the position of CEO of Familia Zuccardi, one of the top three exporters of wine from Argentina and the only one that is family owned among the leadership group.  He has been awarded Entrepreneur of Year  in 2000 and 2002 by the Province of Mendoza, Agricultural Entrepreneur in 2003 by La Nacion newspaper, the Export Excellence Award in 2006 by La Nacion, the Technological Innovation in Agriculture Business in the Viticulture Area and most recently, in 2008, the Winery Trajectory Achievement Award by the Argentine Winery Board Association.  Besides Familia Zuccardi, José is an intense leader in the wine industry as President of the Argentine Wine Union, Director of the Argentine Wine Corporation and Director of Wines of Argentina.