Chef Battista is a Certified Executive Chef, a Certified Executive Pastry Chef, and a Certified Culinary Educator with over 33 years of experience working as a business executive, chef, author and educator. Chef Battista received his culinary training in France and Italy the old fashioned way, with five years of Apprenticeships. A graduate of Burdett College with a degree in finance, Chef Battista has worked at the Institute of California-Los Angeles as the Director of Culinary Arts, the Los Angeles Culinary Institute as its Dean, the California Culinary Academy as the Director of the Colleges of Food, the Sheraton Corporation and the Ritz-Carlton Hotels as Executive Pastry Chef, the Fairmont Hotel chain as Food and Beverage Director, Watertown School System as a Chef Instructor, and LaBrioche Restaurant chain as Executive Chef. Chef Battista has won numerous culinary awards, including the Grand Prize by the Culinaire Philanthropique of New York. He is the former President and Chairman of the Board of the American Culinary Federation-Los Angeles. He is also the author of the anticipated forthcoming book, Food and Wine Pairings. His vast experience has prepared Chef Battista well for the demands of opening and successfully operating an institution such as the Professional Culinary Institute, and his passion for the school and its students is a key ingredient to its success.

Chef Bo Friberg is a certified Master Pastry Chef with over 40 years of professional experience in the industry. Chef Bo (as he is known to his students) graduated from the Confectionery Association School of Sweden and holds a degree as a Master Confectioner. He has worked in both intimate bakeries and large retail and wholesale operations in the United States and Europe, and was a Pastry Chef for Swedish American Lines Cruise Ships. In addition, he has demonstrated his pastry artistry on television shows including the two highly acclaimed public television series Cooking Secrets of the CIA, and Cooking at The Academy, as well as NBC's Today Show and the locally produced Bay Cafe.

Chef Friberg has taught baking and pastry courses to all levels of students - from beginners to seasoned professionals - since 1978. Chef Friberg spent nearly 20 years teaching at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where he was part of the school's opening faculty team. In 1995, he was selected as a member of the start-up teaching group for The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in the Napa Valley, where he served as Chef Instructor.

Chef Friberg has received numerous awards and honors for his work in Europe and in the United States. He has been awarded gold medals on two occasions at the American Culinary Federation's Culinary Arts Exhibit of the Pacific Coast. Chef Friberg's celebrated cookbook The Professional Pastry Chef, now revised to its Fourth Edition, has become the standard-bearer for professional chefs and students alike in the Baking & Pastry industry. His most recent book, The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef, was the recipient of the 2004 IACP Cookbook Award. Chef Friberg is also a member of the Advisory Board for PastryScoop.com.

Chef Randy Torres is an exciting addition to PCI's winning team. Chef Torres comes to the Professional Culinary Institute from Bear Creek Golf Club in Southern California, where he has been the Executive Chef for the past five years.

Chef Torres received his formal training and an Advanced Certificate from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, where he has served as a faculty member in the Culinary Program since 1999. Not only has Chef Torres excelled in some of the top country club and hotel kitchens in the country, his impressive record in Culinary Competitions really sets him apart as a star chef and instructor. He won his first Culinary Diploma at the Palm Springs Culinary Salon in 1995. Since then, he has won a Bronze Medal, eight Silver Medals, and two Gold Medals, in competitions across the country. He is currently Team Captain for the Western Region Culinary Olympics Team, with whom he won Gold and Silver Medals in the 2000 Olympic competitions.

As team manager at Orange Coast College, Chef Torres's squads have been Hot Food Category Champions in California State Competitions five years in a row, and have won three out of five Gold Medals at the Western Regional Conference Competition. We're proud and honored to have him on staff.

The Certified Sommelier Program at PCI is the brainchild of Master Sommelier David Glancy, MS , CWE . David Glancy is one of only 76 Americans (and only 142 people worldwide) to have earned the elite title of Master Sommelier (MS) from the London based Court of Master Sommeliers. He is a member of the Washington, DC based Society of Wine Educators, winning the 2003 Wine Appreciation Guild Award.

During his more than 20 years in the industry, he has worked for some of the largest hotels and food companies in the world, from the Marriott and Hyatt hotels, to Spectrum Food and the Kimpton Group. He has been involved in both front and back of house operations, and has managed restaurants and played a key role in several restaurant openings.
David's wine expertise has been solicited by nearly every institution and media outlet imaginable. His work with restaurants has been recognized through Wine Spectator and Restaurant Hospitality Magazine awards, as well as in glowing critical reviews in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, and numerous other publications.
Prior to joining PCI, David was a wine and business instructor at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.

PCI is excited to welcome Christina Dimitriou as our new Hospitality Management Department Chair. Christina is the epitome of the global influence and opportunities associated with hotel management. Originally from Greece, she is fluent in English, Greek, French, and Spanish. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technological Educational Institute in Greece, her Masters Degree in Tourism Policy and Management from the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England, and trained and managed at four and five-star hotels in both Greece and Belgium.

She is an expert in all aspects of hotel operations, from hotel, travel, and service management to event planning and staffing.

In addition, she has dedicated herself to the teaching and training of new generations of hotel managers and administrators for more than a decade. Her courses have covered everything from Sales, Finance, Operations, and Administration-Human Resources, to Marketing, Catering, and Food and Guest Services.

We are proud that Christina has chosen to bring her diverse and extensive knowledge and experience in Hotel Operations Management to PCI.

Chef George Hadres comes to the Professional Culinary Institute after more than a decade of teaching Culinary Arts and more than 25 years in the profession.

Chef Hadres was an acclaimed Instructor with the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, and was both Chef Instructor and Site Director for CCA's pilot extension program, The College of Food, with campuses in Salinas and San Diego, California. Prior to that, Chef Hadres was the Executive Chef Instructor with Opportunities Industrialization Center West (OICW,) a non-profit vocational training center in Menlo Park, and at Mime's Cafe in Redwood City, an OICW sponsored, full service, training restaurant.

In addition to his celebrated career as an Instructor, Chef Hadres has owned and operated prominent restaurants in the Santa Cruz Area, and has served as a Sous Chef and Executive Chef in restaurants in Athens, Greece and on the island of Rhodes. Chef Hadres is a member of the American Culinary Federation, and is a certified Executive Chef through the ACF.

Klaus Freidenreich is one of only 70 Certified Master chefs in the United States as recognized by the American Culinary Federation (ACF). He is the recipient of the 2001 ACF National Chef of the Year award and prior to joining the staff of PCI, he was the Program Chair for the Culinary Arts program at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Chef Friedenreich has led many of his student culinary teams to victories in numerous competitions around the United States. He oversaw the student-run restaurant the Chef's Palette, which recently won the 2005 American Culinary Federation Achievement of Excellence Award.Chef Friedenreich came to the United States from his native Germany in 1964 and spent the next 26 years in American restaurants and hotels. He made significant contributions to the United States Culinary Olympics Team in 1980. He contributed three personal Gold Medals as the Captain of the team that won 30 Gold Medal Awards. Also, In 1984, and again in 1988, he was an advisor to the winning U.S. Olympic teams.

Chef Friedenreich cooked for U.S. Presidents Carter and Ford on their campaign trails when he was Corporate Chef for Dobbs House Airline Catering. He was also the chef Manager of Indigo Lakes Country Club at Daytona Beach. He later became the Executive vice President of the United States ChefÕs Open. In 1971, Chef Friedenreich participated in the inauguration of the Walt Disney WorldÕs Contemporary Hotel. In the 1960s, he provided his skills to JosephÕs of Lock Ober, the Sheraton Hotel of Boston and the famous AnthonyÕs Pier 4. Other accomplishments included Executive Chef at OrlandoÕs Carlton House and at the Maison et Jardin Restaurant. Additionally, Chef Freidenreich created and ran KlausÕ Cuisine where he won 5 Golden Spoon Awards.

Chef Parker's culinary training includes a degree in Culinary Arts from Broward College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as an apprenticeship at the London Chop House in Detroit and a three-year apprenticeship at the Grand Hotel Kranapolski and the Queens Royal Palace in Amsterdam. Chef Mial is very active in food show competitions, having received more than thirty awards and a gold cloverleaf. He was a member of the ACF Western Regional Culinary Team that won a gold medal in 1988, and also served as Captain of Team USA West, part of the Culinary Olympic Team for the USA. What's more, Chef Parker is a three-time Culinary Olympics individual Gold Medalist and has a long history as a popular Chef Instructor at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, California, and most recently at the Art Institute of Los Angeles' School of Culinary Arts.

Chef Udo Prambs is a Certified Master Chef with over 20 years of knowledge and experience in European culinary cuisine. Commencing his training and apprenticeship in his native country Germany, Chef Prambs earned a Chefs Degree and Master Diploma in Hospitality, and recognized diplomas as a Certified Master Restaurateur and Certified Master of Hospitality Business.

Chef Prambs' work spans many Five Star European hotels & restaurants, in Switzerland (Kulm Hotel), Germany (Maritim Group), Italy (Da-Ivo), England (Four Seasons Group and Hunstrete House) and Israel (Neptune Hotel). A notable culinary appointment in England included providing the buffet at a private catering event for a client at Windsor Castle, The Library. After spending almost ten years in England, Chef Prambs brought his talent to the USA, as Executive Chef of the prestigious L’Auberge Restaurant in Dayton, Ohio.
Through the combination of training, experience, knowledge and an understanding of balance, Chef Prambs is consistently inspired by the eclectic array of global ingredients and techniques he has absorbed over the years throughout Europe and the USA. We are delighted and proud to have him join our truly world class team.

Chef Canella-Rawls graduated from Johnson & Wales University in 1998, and for the past 10 years has been traveling the world perfecting her skills and techniques while teaching in many diverse cultures. She has accumulated years of experience as a Pastry Chef, Executive Pastry Chef and Head Baker and is the author of Pao: Arte & Ciencia, a book about breads and doughs. Chef Canella-Rawls' book was awarded "The Best Bread Book of 2005" by the Gourmand Association in Germany, and is currently working on the second edition. This award winning book captures Chef Canella-Rawls zeal for the baking & pastry arts coupled with her teaching experience in Brazil. Chef Canella-Rawls is dedicated to research, writing and teaching her passion for the industry to her students.

Chef Michael Wille is a Certified Chef de Cuisine with over 17 years of well-rounded experience in the industry. Upon graduation from the Culinary Institute of America, Chef Wille honed his cooking skills in the prestigious kitchens of The Park Hyatt Chicago, La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, and the Hotel Nikko of Beverly Hills.

Chef Wille developed his leadership skills as a Sous Chef and Executive Chef for the Kimpton Group restaurants, specifically Harry Denton's and Perry's Downtown, both located in the competitive food environment in San Francisco. His passion for the outdoors and ambition to travel brought him to Kenya, where he served as the Executive Chef for African Expeditions, a distinguished remote catering and safari company praised for its gourmet bush dining.

Chef Wille joins the PCI team after most recently working as head moderator for American Culinary Chefs Best, an independent chef-based organization responsible for analyzing consumer food products using sensory science. He is a published author and writer of the upcoming cookbook, Dona Tomas, Discovering Authentic Mexican Cooking.

Chef Loan Co attended the International Confection School headed by Chef Edward Notter, and in 1989 took a position in the pastry department at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, which she currently manages.

Chef Co has received numerous awards and medals for her work, including a gold medal as Pastry Chef for "Team California 2000", which competed at the IKA 2000 Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany - and where she received the highest score of the team - a gold medal at the ACF sanctioned salon in Orange County, California, and in Las Vegas: a first place medal, a silver medal for "One Hour Cake Decorating," and a bronze for "One Hour Centerpiece", and "Best of Show." She recently competed at the ACF State Competition held at PCI, where she won the silver medal in the individual category in Baking and Pastry for "90 minute Plate of Dessert."

Chef Co has been a member of the ACF and the Chef's Association of the Pacific Coast (CAPC) since 1995. She was on the CAPC Board of Directors for two years and was named the CAPC 2004 "Chef of the Year." She received the "2005 J.W. Marriott Excellence Award", the "San Francisco Hotel Hero Award for Lifetime Achievement", and is the recipient of the prestigious "Antonin Careme Medal."

Chef Stephany Buswell is a Certified Master Baker and has worked in the baking industry for over 30 years. During this time, she perfected the art of cake decorating, pastry baking, wedding cakes, and bread baking. She operated her own bakery in the Santa Cruz area and has been both the production manager and operations manager of two of Santa Cruz's premiere scratch bakeries.

Chef Buswell began her training in natural foods baking and then pursued a career in European style baking by working with Gayle Ortiz of Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, CA. The next step was developing her own style by working as a pastry chef in two of Santa Cruz County's high end restaurants. In 1985, she won a professional competition held by "Monterey Life" magazine for the best dessert in the Monterey Bay.

Chef Buswell found a passion for teaching and became a baking, chocolate and cake decorating instructor at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. Now as a faculty member in the Baking & Pastry program at PCI, she has realized her dream.

Chef Doug Basegio received his baking and pastry training at the Swiss National Academy, Richemont Fachschule in Lucerne, Switzerland. His teaching career spans nearly three decades and coincidentally began with our own Chef Bo Friberg when they opened the California Culinary Academy’s Baking Program together in 1978. Since that time Chef Basegio has taught at San Francisco State in their Hospitality Management Program and created and taught the National Apprentice Program for Baking. Chef Basegio has spent the last two decades as an Owner/Operator in the restaurant and baking industry. Chef Basegio’s broad range of skills and international experience, combined with his years of teaching experience, make him one of our most popular instructors.

Chef Johnson has trained all over the world including Italy, Mexico and Thailand. He graduated from the Culinary School of Connecticut and has been a chef educator for over six years and is Serve Safe Certified. During his three year tenure as the coach for the Culinary School of Connecticut’s competition team he advanced them to their highest record of achievement ever due to his careful guidance and leadership.

Chef Johnson believes in the hands on approach with an emphasis on fresh and new products. He creates innovative recipes from scratch such as; vinegars, oils, sorbets, breads, ice cream, smoked foods, blown sugar, cheeses, gum and chocolate. He has mastered the techniques of Ice Carving, Asian Cuisine, Artisan Chocolates & Candies, and Artesian Bread Making. As a former student of Ewald Notters School of Confectionary Arts, Chef Tomm mastered the skills of pulled and blown sugar.

As an accomplished culinarian, he has held various positions such as the Executive Chef for Becco Fino in Florence, Italy and most recently, Executive Chef of La Sirena Restaurant located in Westport, Connecticut which specializes in hand made Italian regional cuisine.

Chef Tomm knows that in today’s culinary world, a mastery of the basic fundamentals of cooking and baking is essential for success. This belief, as well as his many talents has made him sought after as one of the best chef educators in the country.

Chef Peter Maguire's 26 years in the culinary arts began as an apprentice under Johann Tuefel. Since then Chef Maguire has continued to work and learn from top chefs such as four-star Executive Pastry Chef Ricardo Murillo of the Lodge at Pebble Beach, Chef Martin Woestle of nationally ranked Mille Fleurs in Rancho Santa Fe, and Chef Rich King of the Stanwich Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. He worked as Chef de Cuisine for Emile Mooser, of Emile’s in San Jose, a DiRona and Zagat rated four-star restaurant. Chef Maguire has won awards and accolades in ice carving and hot food competitions. As a culinary school graduate with honors, Chef Maguire believes that the education he gained from culinary school drives his passion to excel and deliver at the highest standards. It's this passion he brings to his students at PCI.

Pastry Chef Christine Law loved baking since she was a child, but it wasn't until she worked in a hotel bakeshop during college that she considered pursuing it as a career. After graduating from San Jose State University with a degree in Hospitality Management, Christine enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America in New York and specialized in pastry. In 2003 she also attended the highly regarded Ice Cream Short Course at Penn State, the nation's oldest and best-known educational program for ice cream manufacturing.

Chef Law is known for her updated American classic desserts and signature ice creams, which she perfected during her nine years as Executive Pastry Chef for Wolfgang Puck's Spago and Postrio restaurants.

Living and working in the Bay Area, Christine feels lucky to have such a fantastic variety of organic produce and artisanal products within easy reach, highlighting the best of each season and region on her dessert menus.

Chef Alana Toner comes to the Professional Culinary Institute with fine dining experience in two of the greatest restaurant cities in the United States: San Francisco and New York City. After graduating from the California Culinary Academy, Chef Toner rose quickly among the ranks, beginning her career at Hawthorne Lane and eventually becoming the opening pastry chef of Azie Restaurant in San Francisco. Opportunity called from New York City where Chef Toner had the privilege to work with acclaimed chefs Patricia Yeo, Laurent Tourondel, and others. Most recently, Chef Toner was part of the opening team of Café Gray, acclaimed chef Gray Kunz's eponymous restaurant located in the prestigious Time Warner Center.

Chef Toner brings this experience in ultra high-end, cutting-edge cuisine to students at the Professional Culinary Institute with the hopes of passing on her knowledge to future chefs and pastry chefs in the challenging restaurant industry. Chef Toner believes that with teaching, learning comes in equal measure, and is excited to be part of the world-class chef-instructors at PCI.

Arnold Breit has been an independent Food Service Equipment Consultant in active practice since 1979. His experience in his field dates back to 1972. Mr. Breit has acted as a commercial kitchen designer in addition to being involved in the site selection and evaluation process, has acted as permit expediter on the municipal and county levels, and has helped his clients in other areas related to food service facilities. Mr. Breit's experience covers projects in fast food restaurants, full service restaurants, college cafeterias, employee feeding operations, healthcare operations, military food operations, church kitchens, lounges and nightclubs, and food and convenience markets, among other food facilities. Mr. Breit currently sits on the advisory board at PG&E's Food Service Technology Center in San Ramon, CA and The Hospitality Advisory Board at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, CA. To his further credit, he is a certified "Food Safety Manager" and has been a faculty member of the Dietetic Department at San Francisco State University for the past six years (Food Service Layout and Design.)

Richard Larson, FMP, has been certifying food service managers in ServSafe® for over 13 years. He has successfully trained thousands of industry professionals, having taught classes for the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, San Jose State University, the California Restaurant Association, California Culinary Academy, Disneyland, and numerous other companies.

Mr. Larson brings years of industry experience to the classroom to illustrate real life situations that stress the importance of Food Safety. He is known for making Food Safety training instruction lively, interesting, and relevant.

After years of working in fine dining, conference centers, and corporate food service, Larson owned and operated his own off-premise catering company based in Santa Cruz, California. After selling this business, he took an executive position with the California Restaurant Association. Since 1996 Richard has been involved with the Hospitality Management Department at San Jose State University.

He has earned the prestigious Food Service Manager Professional (FMP) designation from the National Restaurant Association.

As a student in the certified sommelier program at PCI you'll have access to our staff of top industry players.

Guest Lecturers: Bartholomew Broadbent
Broadbent Imports

Bartholomew Broadbent's company, Broadbent Selections, Inc., founded in 1996, is the exclusive US national importer for 18 of the world's most sought after family wineries, including Spy Valley, Chateau Musar, Louis Guntrum, Warwick Estate, Vilafonte, Quinta do Crasto, Ferreira, Aresti, Delbeck, Montsarra, Tahbilk, Riefle, Weinert, Chateau Roubaud, and Machherndl. He also produces his own Broadbent Port and Madeira in Portugal. See www.broadbent-wines.com for more information.

Bert George is the owner of Joseph George Wines in San Jose, a shop exclusively offering limited production wines from Napa. He is the third generation of his family in the wine business. His family owned one of the largest liquor, wine, and beer distributors in Northern California, which started in 1940. Bert started at age 10 and was full-time by age 16. He has been involved in the sales and marketing of wine for wholesale and retail, along with growing grapes and developing brands for his company and others. He also has a vineyard in Yountville, producing wines under the Joseph George label.

Bill Cooper is Winemaker, Production Manager, and Sales Director for Cooper-Garrod Vineyards. His father, George, established the property after returning from service in WWII. Bill apprenticed to his Dad, took courses at Davis, asked everybody questions, and was promoted from apprentice to assistant to winemaker. Bill does everything from punching down the cap during crush to fine-tuning computer systems. See www.cgv.com for more information.

The fifth woman in the world to become a Master Sommelier, grape goddess Catherine Fallis is still very much down-to-earth. Founder and President of Planet Grape LLC, a company committed to bringing a passion for wine, food, and good living into the lives of everyday people, Catherine is creator of the grape goddess guides to good living series of books, seminars, and e-learning programs on wine, food, and travel. She is a frequent speaker, event host, and educator for corporations, consumers, and the trade, a columnist for Touring & Tasting and Wine Adventure, international wine judge, and a professional Champagne sabreur.

Dan Gordon, co-founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, has earned a reputation as one of America's leading brewing engineers. Gordon is the first American in more than 50 years to graduate from the prestigious five-year brewing engineering program at the world-renowned Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan, West Germany. Before earning his brewing engineer's degree there in 1987, he interned at Spaten Brewery in Munich and served as a technical translator at Lowenbrau Consulting.

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Eric Baugher is Director of Winemaking at Ridge Vineyards' Monte Bello Winery. Eric heads the winemaking team at Ridge with Paul Draper and is involved in all winemaking decisions. Eric grew up on a small ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where he raised animals, planted gardens and orchards, and rode horses. He attended UC Santa Cruz, receiving undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In 1994 he joined Ridge, and in his first year he organized the laboratory and developed new sophisticated analytical tests to support Ridge's traditional winemaking practices. In 1995, he took on production management and now oversees all day-to-day winemaking activities. His passion for wine and the stimulating juxtaposition of low-tech winemaking and high-tech analytic techniques keeps him totally involved and constantly inspired.

Eugenio Jardim is the Wine Director at one of San Francisco's top restaurants: Jardiniere, a partnership between famous Chef Traci Des Jardins and Restaurant Designer Pat Kuleto. At Jardiniere he earned the highest four-star rating for service from the San Francisco Chronicle Food and Wine Editor Michael Bauer. Apart from his work in the restaurant, he became a featured guest sommelier at many national and international wine events, such as: "The Masters of Food and Wine" in Carmel, CA, "The International Pinot Noir Celebration" (IPNC) in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, "The World of Pinot Noir" in Shell Beach, CA, and Daniel Johannes' "La Paulee" in New York City, the greatest Burgundy Wine event outside of France.

Fred Dame is one of just 76 Americans to have passed the Master Sommelier Examination. Dame was the first to successfully pass all three parts in a single year. This feat and his high score won him the coveted Krug Cup of the British Guild of Sommeliers in 1984. Dame founded the American Branch of The Court of Master Sommeliers in 1986, and has played an active role in the expansion of the Master Sommelier program throughout America since that time. He is the first American to have served as President of the Court of Master Sommeliers Worldwide, and assists restaurateurs and hoteliers in developing their wine programs in his role as Director of Prestige Accounts for Beam Wine Estates. He is currently the President of the Guild of Sommeliers Education Foundation.

Over 20 years ago, a young man from a long line of distillers ventured from the Black Forest of Germany to the sunny Bay Area of California and opened St. George Spirits. They produce numerous Eau de Vie as well as Hangar One Vodka in the town of Alameda.

Former wine director of Jardinere in San Francisco, Rebecca Chapa is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. She began her career working with Kevin Zraly at Windows on the World in New York City, and is now Estate Ambassador for Rubicon Estate Winery.

Kathryn Kennedy's youngest son, Marty Mathis, took the position as winemaker in 1981. Marty and his wife, Dr. Deborah Mathis, currently reside at the vineyard and winery in Saratoga. Having been born here and farmed the same ground for over 30 years, he has developed a deep love of this small piece of land. Over the last ten years, he has begun to transition their practices towards organic viticulture.

Tim Gaiser is the Education Chair for the American Chapter of the Court of Master Sommeliers, as well as a contributing editor for Fine Cooking Magazine. Tim has experience in all phases of the wine industry - online, wholesale, retail, winery, and restaurant - including stints at Heitz Wine Cellars in the Napa Valley and Bix restaurant in San Francisco. He has developed wine education programs for several restaurants, winery schools, and wine distributors, and has taught classes at every level of wine education. Tim spent five years as one of the senior wine merchants at Virtual Vineyards and the original wine.com, and was instrumental in building this multi-million dollar company. Tim has also served as a wine panelist for Bon Appetit magazine, and received the Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence for his wine lists at the Cypress Club in 1991, 1992, and 1993.

Robert Bath has spent more than 25 years in the industry, managing high-profile, wine-oriented restaurants such as the Sardine Factory in Monterey, CA; Starkers in Kansas City, MO; and Shafer Vineyards in Napa, California. He also founded The RLB Wine Group, a sales, marketing, and education consultant business.

Reggie Narito is one of only 76 people in the United States and one of only three Filipino Americans to hold the prestigious title of Master Sommelier. A native of Alameda, California, Reggie began his career in the restaurant industry at the age of 17. He has worked in Bay Area restaurants such as Star's in San Francisco, Le Papillion in San Jose, and the Plumed Horse in Saratoga. He has helped in the design of well known beverage programs in the South Bay, such as the Forbes Mill in Los Gatos, Mandarin Gourmet in Cupertino, and Junnoon Restaurant in Palo Alto. He is currently employed with Southern Wine & Spirits, working as the regional manager for Santa Clara County. He resides in San Jose with his wife Kim and their three children.