Visionary leader of Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute
is ready for his next chapter.
By Jeff Siegel
Ask Ray Johnson what he’ll miss the most after he retires as the executive director of the Wine Business Institute at Sonoma State University at the end of the school year, and the answer comes quickly.
“It’s the symphony of people involved,” says Johnson, who also started the university’s Executive Wine MBA program in 2012, the first executive wine business degree of its type in the United States. “It’s the range of people from board members to alumni to students. I love the communication, talking to them, discussing the challenges they face and the solutions they come up with. It’s just intellectually fascinating.”
And why shouldn’t he miss that? Talk to those alumni and board members, as well as almost anyone who has dealt with Johnson professionally, and they say his ability to work with all of those cohorts is one of his great skills — as well as one of the keys to the success of the institute and its executive MBA program.
Embodying the WBI
“Ray’s connections are what brought the program to life,” says Alexandra O’Gorman, the vice-president, guest experience, at Foley Family Wines in Healdsburg, Calif., who earned her executive MBA through the program in 2018. “He just knows the right people, and he can share his vision about what he wants to do and bring them all together — from the industry to the local community — to accomplish what he sees that needs to be done.”
It’s a process Johnson has used since he started working at Sonoma State in 2010, teaching a variety of wine- and business-related classes before becoming institute director two years later. He was able to call on a background that included retail, a masters degree from Australia’s University of Adelaide, several teaching and consulting posts, academic research and as assistant director of the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition. He started his now-storied wine career in 1986 behind the counter at the retail shop at the old Christian Brothers’ Greystone Cellars in Saint Helena.
“One of Ray’s strengths is being a leader in developing and positioning the Wine Business Institute as a bridge between the wine industry and Sonoma State University, using just that experience,” says Ron Rubin, president/owner of River Road Family Vineyards and Winery in Sebastopol, Calif., and president of the Wine Business Institute Board of Directors. “Just one example: Ray led the creation of the Wine Business Leadership Awards, as a partnership between the Sonoma County Vintners and the Wine Business Institute at Sonoma State University.”
That approach was also part and parcel of the creation of the executive MBA program. Says Johnson: “If you talk to [wine industry] people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and you see how successful they are and you listen to their higher level questions and the problems that they need to solve, you can see there’s a need for something like the executive MBA program.”
Leading with positivity
Developing that program, he says, began in the early 2000s, even before the end of the recession and when there were only the first hints of the changes — including premiumization, the generation gap, new technology and the decline in demand — that would shape the industry’s future.
“The old approach, which had been successful for so many years, was that wine was an agricultural product, and that, ‘If we just make a really, really good wine, we’re set,’” Johnson explains. “But there was starting to be a gap between that approach and what was changing in the wine business. I thought that gap was worth filling and solving.”
He adds that, though there were graduate degree programs in wine throughout the state, most were focused on viticulture and enology. Johnson says he didn’t see any that addressed the way the wine business was changing and that would also help mid-career wine executives deal with those changes. “We had to find a way to educate the next generation and to help them more effectively manage their businesses,” he says. “There were programs for winemakers and vineyard managers, so why not wine executives?”
Which, say MBA program graduates and school officials, is exactly what Johnson created.
“Ray’s leadership with the Institute and direction with its board has helped make the school recognizable worldwide,” says Gary B. Heck, chairman of the WBI board, and president and owner of Korbel Champagne Cellars. “He has always been available to share the Institute’s story and has inspired many students along the way.”
As 2017 MBA graduate Michelle Benvenuto, executive director of Winegrowers of Napa County, put it, “There were Ray’s professional achievements and leadership qualities, but what struck me the most was his ability to bring joy and levity to those around him.
“His signature positivity is remarkable, making interactions with him enjoyable, memorable and inspirational. I can’t recall attending a school event without interacting with Ray; his presence always elevated the experience and was a highlight for me and everyone involved.”
What’s next?
Johnson says he’s looking forward to having more time to travel with wife Linda, camp with his friends, and “regain the physical vitality that I had as a young man. And who knows? I might be able to explore new activities that I might not even know that I would enjoy.”
And, of course, keep in touch with everyone around Sonoma State: “These are my people.”
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Jeff Siegel
Jeff Siegel is an award-winning wine writer, as well as the co-founder and former president of Drink Local Wine, the first locavore wine movement. He has taught wine, beer, spirits, and beverage management at El Centro College and the Cordon Bleu in Dallas. He has written seven books, including “The Wine Curmudgeon’s Guide to Cheap Wine.”
