I am a business builder with deep experience in managing business relationships, an empathetic understanding of customer needs and experience, with the lived experience of the emotions, complexity and tenacity it takes to build a small business. I began my career doing economic research before ...more

I am a business builder with deep experience in managing business relationships, an empathetic understanding of customer needs and experience, with the lived experience of the emotions, complexity and tenacity it takes to build a small business. I began my career doing economic research before moving into various account management and sales roles in the financial industry. From 1995 to 2015 I helped a variety of companies deliver world class sales and service to investment professionals. I became expert in financial data and software solution sales and held several quota-driven roles. In 2015 I took a chance and followed a dream. I left corporate Toronto in 2015 to to create a winery from scratch in a new, unproven wine region. It has been the most challenging thing I've ever done. Micheline and I had already planted the vineyard in 2010. For five years we juggled our careers and raised our kids in the city while getting the winery on its feet. Today, Broken Stone Winery is a bustling little winery nestled in the countryside in Prince Edward County. Our wines have won several awards. This modest entrepreneurial journey required more grit and determination than I thought possible. I've overcome personal and financial hurdles, and I've grown substantially as a human being. I swapped the comforts of the City for the sweetness of the Country. I exchanged the complexities of financial data and software for the unpredictability of agriculture and fermenting wine. But the challenge of sales and marketing has never disappeared.less