September 5, 2024, St. Helena, CA. — It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of artist, musician, wine business advisor and co-founder of Global Wine Partners, Vic Motto, at his home in Florida on September 1, 2024.
Having grown up in Florida, Vic came to the Napa Valley in the late 70s while traveling. He fell in love with the area and decided to re-settle in the valley. Along with Karen Kryla in 1982, Vic founded the CPA firm Motto Kryla & Co. In 1985 Mike Fisher joined them and the firm was renamed Motto Kryla & Fisher (MKF). At that time, the partners decided to focus exclusively on serving the wine industry offering accounting, tax and financial consulting. Led by Vic, the firm’s services expanded into software development, research, management consulting, and investment banking. In 2003 the investment banking business expanded to become MKF Advisors, then merged with International Wine Consultants in Sydney, Australia to form Global Wine Partners. In 2005, both the CPA firm and the research business were sold to Frank Rimerman & Co. Today, Global Wine Partners continues to operate offering Investment banking, business valuation, and wine business financial consulting. Many of today’s financial leaders in the wine industry got their start with MKF.
Vic’s clients included many of the top wine businesses, including several major international wine companies. His early clients included Robert Mondavi. Mr. Mondavi was quoted as saying “He’s the most important person in the California wine industry over the past twenty-five years. We knew how to make wine; he taught us how to make money.”
Vic held leadership roles as a director or advisor for various nonprofits, wine industry trade groups, and universities, and served on the Boards of several wine companies. A sought-after speaker on the wine industry, he was frequently quoted by major media outlets.
Prior to founding Global Wine Partners and its predecessor firms, he was an executive with a major international management-consulting firm and member of their U.S. national real estate team advising REIT’s and large-scale real estate developers and was previously in the retail wine trade as a manager and wine buyer for a large U.S. wine retail chain.
Vic is survived by his wife Sandra Timpson Motto.
