Board Members

David Spear

Chair

David is an experienced professional company director and governance consultant. He is currently Chairman of Tyre Stewardship Australia, Chairman of Office Brands, Director of Unity Housing and Director of VUCA Pty Ltd.

David has over 25 years’ experience in commercial business management and over 10 years of directorship experience. He is a strategic thinker and communicator and brings extensive experience in governance, strategy and risk.

Ben Gibson

Director

Owner and CEO at Fox Creek Wines. Operations professional with over 20 years of general management and executive director experience in the Wine and Spirits Industry.

Combined with an MBA and tertiary background in agribusiness, Ben has strong skills in the areas of operations management, supply chain, financial management, commercial negotiation and procurement, customer service, organisational behaviour and strategy, people and productivity, lean management, quality/safety/environment integration and technical innovation / R&D.

With a commitment to effective commercial management, Ben believes in emphasising strong communication to drive interpersonal relationships across all levels. His style focusses on empowering employees, colleagues and industry members at all levels to ensure ownership, cross fertilisation of ideas and a sense of value; in turn building collaborative relationships.

David Papa

Director

David is an Executive Director at Bentleys SA, leading the Business Advancement, Audit and Assurance teams and has 17 years’ experience working with many not-for-profits in South Australia as a financial accounting, audit and risk management provider. David's experience has extended to the wine and tourism sectors in varying capacities, including advisory support of the SAWIA and Bentleys Annual SA Wine Industry Snapshot.

Denise von Wald

Director

Denise is both a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Certified Practising Marketer with experience in senior executive and marketing roles in the South Australian, national, and international tourism and education sectors, and a track record of innovation and creative thinking, leading to increased visitor numbers, expanded commercial relationships and greater brand recognition.

With 20 years of Non-Executive Director experience on a diverse range of Boards, Denise is a Board member of the Adelaide Economic Development Agency, Adelaide Venue Management Corporation, Festival City Adelaide and Student Accommodation Association. Denise is currently Principal and CEO of St Ann’s Residential College. Prior to this she was Tourism Australia's Regional General Manager for the United Kingdom (UK) and Northern Europe, based in London for five years, and Chief Executive of Education/Study Adelaide, the key marketing organisation promoting South Australia as an international education destination.

Dr. Larry Lockshin

Director

Larry is a trained viticulturist (MSc from Cornell) and marketer (PhD from Ohio State), who has spent the last 30 years working with the wine industry and a range of other major companies through the Ehrenberg Bass Institute of Marketing Science at UniSA. Larry's strengths are in strategic and people management through his work mainly at UniSA alongside his skills as a marketer. Larry has consulted for a number of wine companies here in Australia and overseas in strategy and wine marketing.

Steven Todd

Director

Steven is currently General Manager at McLaren Vale winery, Kay Brothers. His experience in the South Australian wine industry allows him to understand the wine market and the pressures faced by the McLaren Vale entities. Steven has experience in management positions across a wide range of industries and has an extensive background in managing strategic development, governance and risk management.

Wes Pearson

Director

Dr Wes Pearson is a senior research scientist and sensory group manager at the Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide, as well as winemaker and director of Juxtaposed Wines in McLaren Vale. He holds a BSc in Wine Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia, a diploma in Applied Sensory and Consumer Science from the University of California Davis and a PhD from Charles Sturt University. He has worked in the sensory group at the AWRI since 2010 and has completed hundreds of sensory studies and authored over 25 research papers in that time. He is an alumnus of the Len Evans Tutorial and of Wine Australia’s Future Leaders program, and has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.