History
Ed LeMay’s love for wine and the industry was born out of his families experiences. His mother, father and two older brothers lived in Orleans in the heart of the Loire Valley of France for two years. That experience gave the family an appreciation for wine and made it a part of the LeMay dinner table. It also provided the LeMay family a love for travel.
When Ed was in college he found an opportunity to study abroad. Based in Innsbruck Austria provided a central location to travel all throughout Europe. Upon returning to the States Ed found a job working for a locally owned fine wine distributorship. In short order Ed knew that he wanted to be in the wine industry for the rest of his career.
Ed and his family have moved from Birmingham to Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and San Francisco as his career has matured. Through all of this Ed has stayed true to his love of the wine industry and his love for travel.
Several years ago Ed found an opportunity to teach in the EMBA program at Sonoma State University in their Wine School of Business. This has provided a perfect platform for Ed to share his love of the industry as well as the insights he has gained over the last 35+ years. Ed brings this passion, enthusiasm and dedication to each of his client engagements.
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Associates
Principal
Edwin R (Ed) LeMay
Ed LeMay has almost 40 years of experience in the wine industry. Ed has a reputation for using his background in change management to transform organizations. He has worked as a Distributor, Importer, Broker and Supplier on both the East as well as West Coast over the past three decades.
Ed has a background in sales, sales management, sales training and organizational development as well as data and analytics. Ed has helped transform organizations, including selling teams and structure. In these efforts, he has direct experience creating positive, winning sales cultures. Ed has also served as the “Chief of Staff, Sales” for two very large wine suppliers. In this role Ed has helped set the sales agenda and keep all aligned to that road map.
Ed has had the pleasure of leading critical “Centers of Excellence”, including Strategic & Consumer Insights, Wine Education and Digital Marketing. Ed has also led several other support and shared services functions including Trade Marketing & Promotions, Creative Services, Brand PR, Retail Operations, Visitor Centers and Direct-to-Consumer Marketing.
Ed has also served as SVP Channel Management, where he led the sales team responsible for selling the company’s wine brands to the largest national on- and off-premise accounts in the United States. In that role, he applied an integrated approach to marketing, category planning and management, consumer research, business analysis, and a wide range of strategic account services.
Over Ed’s career he has had the pleasure to work for Constellation Brands, Robert Mondavi Corporation, Treasury Wine Estates as well as Kendall Jackson/Artisan and Estates. He has also worked as a wine broker with Southern Slopes International as well as a wine distributor for International Wines, Inc.
Ed received his BS in Marketing from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Ed also studied in Innsbruck Austria as well as participated in an executive education program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. Ed sat on the board of the Wine Business Institute at Sonoma State University for several years.
Ed currently teaches in the school of business at Sonoma State University in their executive MBA program. His area of concentration within the Wine School of Business is “Route to Market”.