Board Members
The McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism Association is governed by a Board comprising six Directors and a Chair.
Denise von Wald
Chair
David Papa
Director
Professor Larry Lockshin
Director
Wes Pearson
Director
Matthew Deller MW
Director
Denise von Wald
Chair
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.
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.
Professor 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.
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.
Matthew Deller MW
Director
Matthew Deller MW is CEO for Wirra Wirra and Ashton Hills, two of Australia’s most admired wineries. Previously, Matt lived in New Zealand, most recently as Global Sales & Marketing Chief for Villa Maria and spent eight years in the USA with the iconic Robert Mondavi Winery and as Chief Operating Officer for cult Napa Valley winery TOR. Matt passed the Master of Wine exams in 2016, is now a member of the Governance Committee for the Institute of Masters of Wine, the program committee for the MW Symposium in Adelaide 2026 and the Board of Directors for the MW Endowment Company.