Celebrating its first vintage in 2011, family owned and operated Maverick Estate Winery is located south of Oliver B.C., in the famed southern Okanagan wine-growing district. Maverick sustainably grows grapes on four distinct vineyards in the south Okanagan, and uses low intervention, natural techniques to produce a portfolio of delicious Okanagan wines. Maverick Estate Winery offers a warm and welcoming visitor experience, along with wines that rank among the best in the world.

Successful brands have a few things in common: values, differentiation, and a mission. With over 15 years of experience developing highly successful branding strategies for businesses from start-ups to leading industry giants, Jan Nelson has built a career on understanding these key aspects and leveraging strategies that ensure brand awareness and loyalty on an international scale. With expertise in B2B and B2C Sales and Marketing, Risk Management, and Cross-Functional Team Leadership, he has developed a reputation for leading superior marketing and business development strategies that have increased the profitability of organizations throughout global wine, restaurant, and winery markets.Jan’s strengths lie in his keen eye for detail, his ability to work effectively with a wide array of stakeholders, and his innate skill in identifying opportunities to leverage value and penetrate markets. With creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit, Jan works tirelessly and skillfully to understand the “big picture”, taking the time to listen and understand diverse points of view and establish strategies that are targeted, inclusive and effective for unique contexts. As a passionate learner and intuitive communicator, Jan thrives in environments where he can build relationships, manage complex priorities, and develop new skills, absorbing new information quickly and delivering insight and innovation to projects.Jan’s mission is simple: understand contexts through attentive, thorough evaluation and develop creative, flexible, forward-thinking strategies to leverage the unique value in each opportunity, focusing on growth, innovation and profitability. Jan represents what every good brand has – an ability to understand his audience, a value-driven approach to business, and a mission to continue to evolve his ability to exceed the expectations of his clients.

Developed successful growth plan for all brands, developed profitable marketing and sales strategy, and managed brand P&L. Total overall brand revenue: $21.3M. (* Tinhorn Creek Vineyards was acquired by Andrew Peller Limited in October 2017)• Led a cross functional team at each brand, including Estate Manager (hospitality & DTC), winemaking, viticulture, sales agency; 2 direct reports, 10 dotted-line reports.• Led team with marketing, sales & winemaking for portfolio strategy, SKU development/rationalization, blending, volume balancing.• Developed and implemented B2B and B2C sales & marketing strategy, budgeting & execution for 3 brands (total budget = $1.7M), including advertising, digital, instore trade marketing, media relations, trade / buyer development.Developed successful growth plan for all brands, developed profitable marketing and sales strategy, and managed brand P&L. Total overall brand revenue: $23.3M.• Led a cross functional team at each brand, including Estate Manager (hospitality & DTC), winemaking, viticulture, sales agency; 2 direct reports, 10 dotted-line reports.• Led team with marketing, sales & winemaking for portfolio strategy, SKU development/rationalization, blending, volume balancing.• Developed and implemented B2B and B2C sales & marketing strategy, budgeting & execution for 3 brands (total budget = $1.7M), including advertising, digital, in-store trade marketing, media relations, trade / buyer development.

Reporting to CEO, managed 7 direct reports, 4 indirect, up to 15 seasonal staff, and management of sales agency. Led onsite hospitality operations for the estate and managed sales & marketing functions for brand, estate and restaurant.• Managed P/L responsibility, budgeting, sales reporting, and CAPEX management for revenues of $8.6M+, expenses of $7M+ (controlled $2.9M+), and 40,000+ cases.• Developed sales strategy and managed key accounts (BCLDB: Rev = $1.96M), sales agency (Rev = $3.25M), DTC / onsite retail (Rev = $3.4M), and distribution strategy; pivoted sales strategy from price promotion centric to service centric, increasing prices while decreasing LTO budget by 80%; EBITDA: 4.6% (2015) to 16% (2016) in first year.• Managed portfolio, new product development, advertising and promotion strategy / execution for brand (budget = $1.4M), hospitality operations (budget = $1.4M) and onsite restaurant.

Reporting directly to President, managed 9 direct reports (average), generating 700MM yen ($8.3M CDN) annual revenue, servicing wholesale and on-premise (HoReCa) clients (800+ active accounts) within the Greater Tokyo area.• Managed P/L, budgeting, reporting, and forecasting for portfolio of 60+ brands and 850+ SKUs.• Managed channel strategy, pricing, customer targeting, development, presentation, negotiation; managed 45 accounts (distributor, chain restaurants, wedding company) with a total revenue of $1.1M.• Provided market analysis (product, competitors, distribution), trade marketing, planning, promotion development, and new product release.• Provided development, training, coaching, reviewing, interviewing, and hiring of 4 new staff.

Strategic consultant to key Director of Japan’s EC market leader (managing 800+ employees).• Implemented merchant strategy and sales strategy for internal sales team.• Provided competitor and market analysis, pricing modeling, revenue forecasting, risk assessment, LTV analysis.• Led service concept development / proposal targeting merchant loyalty; provided on-boarding, customer support, business recovery, and merchant separation.• Proposed operational efficiency plan estimated to cut costs equivalent to 14B yen in GMS, which was expanded company-wide late 2014.

Concentration in Marketing and InnovationDiVino Club president - 2011 - 2012

Corporate Design Center: Service DesignParticipated in ideation workshops with cross-functional teams: Creative Agencies, Designers, Corporate Strategists, Market Researchers. Analyzed and researched ICT market trends, competitor analysis and market sizing to develop insights and propose product / service sets for Samsung's market entry strategy for a new industry.

Worked with clients to develop business strategies, operation plans, marketing & market expansion strategies, market awareness (trade & consumer), and media exposure. Developed business and financial plans, and marketing strategies for two start-up operations. Led Japanese domestic marketing program for two wine trade organisations (Napa Valley Vintners – 2009 – 2010, Washington State Wine Commission – 2006 – 2009).• Reduced fixed & variable costs resulting in a break-even point reduction of 30% in six months; createdsystems for labor management, budgeting & cost control.• Developed national Marketing, PR and promotional programs to position Napa and Washington wines into the luxury market; increased product awareness to over 90% in target market.• Planned and executed industry events, IT projects, trade missions.• Executed annual national on-premise & retail promotions, B2C / B2B marketing plan and B2C campaigns, resulting in 60M+ yen sales at 200+ locations each year (2007 – 2009).• Increased number of Washington wineries exporting to Japan by 50%.

Developed B2C business for leading Pacific Northwest (USA) International wine importer, creating e-commerce channel, corporate services and event program. Managed on-premise accounts, providing service training and marketing support. Responsible for supplier management, new product development / launch, pricing / costing, forecasting, inventory management and logistics.• Created B2C program from ground up, crafting a direct sales channel, two e-commerce sites, digital marketing strategy; achieved 15% of company revenue with highest GM sales channel.• Managed all content for English marketing, e-commerce & B2B trade website, B2C DM.• Executed 50+ wine events annually, including event logistics, promotion, direct sales, event P/L.• Managed 27 suppliers in two countries (US & France - 150+ SKUs), including pricing, forecasting, product activation, new product development.• Performed demand forecasting, purchasing, transport & customs clearance for 15,000 – 20,000 cases of wine annually; increased inventory turnover rate by 30%, cut logistics costs by 40%, freeing up capital to fund growth.

Executive recruitment consultant for IT companies in Tokyo. Responsible for account management, candidate sourcing, interviewing, screening, presentation and negotiation.