Accomplished Wine Professional to Lead National Wine Importer to Next Stage of Growth
NAPA, Calif. (Tuesday March 14, 2023) — Folio Fine Wine Partners, a leading luxury wine importer and sales agency, today announced the appointment of Tim Norris as chief executive officer (CEO), effective Monday April 3, 2023.
Norris joins Folio from Moët Hennessy USA (MHUSA), where he held a range of sales, marketing, and leadership positions over his 23-year tenure. Most recently, he served as Managing Director and Senior Vice President, Estates and Wines, leading the integration of Chateau d’Esclans and Joseph Phelps from private ownership into the MHUSA portfolio.
In his role, Tim will be responsible for leading the Folio business into its next stage of growth and continuing to build upon the importer’s success in the highly competitive three-tier market.
Folio Founder and Chairman, Michael Mondavi is thrilled with the appointment, stating:
“Tim’s wine business expertise, deep knowledge of the luxury wine category, and demonstrated success building brands in the highly competitive and complex three-tier system, is clear. His ability to build, motivate and lead teams, and harness new business opportunities in a dynamic and changing market, makes Tim the ideal candidate to lead and propel Folio to the next stage of growth,” he said.
For Damien Lafaurie, President of EPI Wine and Champagne, Norris’ appointment is in line with the group’s ambitions for the US market:
“Tim’s appointment as CEO of Folio is an important milestone in the development of our business in the US. While Folio has experienced outstanding growth over the past two years, we believe that Tim’s experience, business acumen, and proven success will help us achieve our vision of becoming an undisputed leader in fine and luxury wine.”
For Norris, the appointment comes at an important stage of his wine leadership career:
“After more than two decades of building, growing, and leading teams across sales, marketing and business operations at Moët Hennessy, the opportunity to join Folio in a leadership role was too good to pass up. Building upon Michael Mondavi’s vision, and the long-term strategy and aspirations set out by Groupe EPI, is a challenge I am looking forward to taking on. I am grateful for the growth opportunities offered to me at MHUSA and I hope to bring my learnings and energy to the Folio team,” he said.
Tim Norris brings more than 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, and distributor experience to Folio. Starting with Republic Beverage Company (now RNDC) in 1992, Norris joined Moët Hennessy in 1999 as Regional Marketing Manager before transitioning to sales with the company in 2007. Over the last 16 years, Norris has held various senior sales roles, and was responsible for the two largest regions of Central and Northeast, managing 54 employees, generating sales of more than 1.7 million cases per year.
In 2020, Norris was appointed Managing Director and Senior Vice President Estates and Wines and Chateau d’Esclans and served on Moët Hennessy USA’s Mergers and Acquisitions team for Joseph Phelps, integrating both businesses into the MHUSA portfolio.
