Director, Western Division
Hess Family Wine Esates
Napa, Calif. ─ Michael Murphy is joining Hess Family Wine Estates as Director for the Western Division, covering eight states and Western Canada. He will oversee operations for the HFWE portfolio in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and Montana in the US, and the Western Canadian provinces.
Murphy joins Hess with a diverse background in sales and marketing, most recently at Treasury Wine Estates and earlier, in Australia, at Carlton & United Beverages, National Foods and Pepsi Cola.
At Treasury he served as the Regional Market Director for California and Hawaii, delivering impressive results while overseeing a team of 22 and managing key relationships in the retail chain channel.
Earlier, also at Treasury, he served as a Brand Marketing Manager for Greg Norman Estates, Meridian and Taz, as well as managing a joint venture with Boomerang Vodka and Wattle Creek Winery. He helped develop wine education programs with various national distributors, and led the Treasury Wine Education team. He joined the company in 2005.
A graduate of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, Michael also attended the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business in the Executive Education Strategic Marketing program.
The Western division Hess team reporting to Murphy includes California State Manager Michael Reid and Regional Sales Managers Annette Stadelman, Cindy Bock, Jenna Chevigny, Zach Obedin and Dan Schwarze. Murphy will report to Chief Operating Officer John Grant.
“We’re fortunate to have Michael join us during a period of great opportunity for Hess Family Wine Estates,” said Grant. “He brings aboard a level of accomplishment, experience and insights that will prove valuable as we continue to introduce the next generation of Hess to the marketplace.”
Hess Family Estates produces terroir driven wines on four continents, and includes the wines of The Hess Collection on Mount Veeder in the Napa Valley; Artezin from California’s North Coast; MacPhail Family Wines, with Pinot Noir expressions from California’s greatest growing regions; Peter Lehmann wines from Australia’s Barossa Valley; Colomé and Amalaya from Salta, Argentina; and Glen Carlou from Paarl, South Africa.
