Submit Date: May 27, 2025
First Name Middle
Initial
Last Name
Email Address
Street Address Suite or Apt
City State Postal Code
Primary Phone Alternate Phone
Employer Job Title
City of Napa Boards & Commissions
Profile
Mailing Address (if different than Resident Address above) Length of Residence in the City of Napa:
16 Length of Residence in the County of Napa:
16 Registered to vote in the City of Napa?
Yes No
Ethnicity *
Caucasian/Non-Hispanic
Interests & Experiences
Which Boards would you like to apply for?
Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee (CDBG). : Submitted WALTER w RICHARDSON
Turley Wine Cellars CEO/GM
WALTER w RICHARDSON
ATTACHMENT 1
Upload a Resume
Question applies to
Planning Commission,
Cultural Heritage Commission
Some Commissions and Boards require specific seats to be designated as "Design Professionals".
Are you applying as a Design Professional, which is
defined as, "a person who demonstrates, to the satisfaction of the City Council, that he or she has professional experience (in the fields of architectural design, landscape architecture, urban planning, building, sustainability, or a related field) that is sufficient to assist the member in the effective evaluation of applications for development projects." ? If you have marked "YES", please provide details under "Relevant Experience" in this section.
You may attach your resume below.
Yes
No
Question applies to
Parks, Recreation and Trees Advisory Commission
3 of the 7 voting members shall be a person who demonstrates experience in one of the following identified fields: urban planning, park planning, park operations, park maintenance, recreation programming, horticulture, or arboriculture. Are you applying as one of these members?
Yes
No
Community Service Experience:
Marketing Board member for the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance Marketing Board member for Amador Wine Country CA Wine Institute Export committee member Education:
CA State University Fresno Bachelor of Arts Communication - 1982 CA City College Fresno AA degree -1979 University of CA Davis Executive Wine Program - 2006 Stanford Executive Education Finance and Accounting for Non - Financial Executive 2004 Other relevant experience or expertise:
Over 40 years of experience in the wine industry managing all facets of winery operations including P&L's, water management, environmental regulation enforcement, legal obstacles, climate change, and immigration employee challenges with regards to winery operations. I have also supervised the renewals of insurance for properties and employee insurance renewals. This is only a small fraction of my business acumen over the years.
Additional Questions
WALTER w RICHARDSON
What is your understanding of the role and responsibility of this board? Boards are about listening, examining the facts, assessing the situation and coming up with a reasonable plan of action to address critical issues and often times compromise when needed without sacrificing too much of the key elements of the plan to achieve the goal.
Have you ever attended a meeting of this board?
If so, how many?
No
What duties of this board are most interesting to you?
Giving back to my community to make a difference and improve general living conditions for my fellow citizens.
What activities of this board are least interesting to you? If I cannot even, make a small difference in improving our community one small step at a time
What programs or projects would you like to see improved or implemented? Improve community communications and get more citizens involved in the communication process and restore confidence and integrity in government operations. people matter and can make a difference.
How would you approach improving these project(s) or program(s)? Much like Europe take the long-term approach to community and plan for the greater good for all and planning for generations to come. Improve all aspects of life and hope where possible.
Improve community communication and involve young people where possible.
Are you involved in any organizations or activities that may result in a conflict of interest if you are appointed to this board? NO
Please list two local references and their phone numbers:
How did you learn of this vacancy?
None Selected
WALTER w RICHARDSON
Rich Richardson
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER / GENERAL MANAGER
A proven leader with demonstrated strategic insight and operational drive.
Builds teams that produce revenue and profit results, expertise in general management, domestic and international sales and marketing.
P&L Responsibility Sales Force Leadership
General Management Strategic Planning
Business Development Vendor/Distributor Relations
Annual Business Planning/Management
Organizational Leadership
Environmental regulation
Marketing – Brand
Management/Development
Business Development & Expansion
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE – May 2013 to present.
Turley Wine Cellars – St. Helena CA, Plymouth CA, Paso Robles CA Directly manage all winery operations of 68,000 cases - Annual $24 million revenue and $5.7 million profit achieving plan. Met 90% of KPI goals FY/FY.
Reporting Structure-
Report to Larry Turley owner
Direct Reports – all winery managers team of 12
1 Chief Financial Consultant
55 fulltime employers – 10 part-time tasting room employees 3 wineries: 2 tasting rooms: 1 administration office, 1 wine-club office Led the establishment of US sales and marketing business with full P&L accountability. Crafted new route (s) to Market Strategy enabling long-term growth in US marketplace. Transformed sales structure, E- Commerce/DTC/wine club marketing strategy resulting in improved customer uptake.
Transformed sales structure, developed strategic plans for e-commerce, texting, in- market events, affinity partnerships and an integrated marketing calendar. Resulting in 73% DTC/E-COMM SALES
Grew sales volumes by 36% in first year of tenure
Established new budgets, POS system, added ADP, increased DTC personnel for Wine club/Email, created SOP’s, financial budgets, remuneration plan by adding a 401K, channel strategy, volume targets, production forecast, marketing strategies that are necessary to obtain financial targets each year, and implement employees’ reviews. Repositioned core brands improving market position, gross margin and brand equity. Grew sales revenue from $14M to $23M 2013-2023 through volume and margin improvement.
Oversaw new product development (new wines and custom bottle shape) driving incremental revenue. Attending global industry trade shows with presentations Transformed trade relationships with multiple distributors and targeted resellers during tenure.
Expanded the national depletion base from 44,000 cases in 2013 to over 54,000 cases in 2023. Active in enhancing overall team professionalism and performance through consistent leadership, team building, organizational development and implementation of job descriptions, procedure manuals, and adherence to high performance standards and CA law requiring environmental upgrades in compliance with our certified organic farming practices. Assembled exceptional (95%) Domestic and (5%) Export distribution streams to Norway, Japan, Canada /all provinces Seoul Korea, Netherlands, England, Belgium, France distribution importers.
Developed marketing strategies with Turley’s Director of Marketing and Sales and one Turley FOB Wine Cellars sales representative, both are Turley family members. Created vision and led organizational change focused around channel profit management - increasing tenure for wine club members and securing new signups and maintaining a 70% allocation of wine sell through versus FOB of 30% sell through. The Wine Club is always the focused channel with emphasis on keeping margins in the high 60’s. Continue to maximize direct contact with customers to reinforce winery profitability.
OTHER WORK EXPERENCES
The San Francisco Wine Exchange & Marketers General Manager 2011 - 2013 Artesa Vineyards & Winery General Manager 2009 - 2011 Justin Vineyards & Winery VP Director of Sales & Marketing 1999 - 2009 Opus One Winery Western Regional Sales Manager 1991 - 1999 Robert Mondavi Winery Southwest Regional; Sales Manager 1985 - 1991
EDUCATION
University of California, Davis, 2006, Executive Management Wine Program Stanford Executive Education, 2004, Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Executives California State University Fresno, 1982 Bachelor of Arts in Communication
INDUSTRY ROLES
Turley Wine Cellars Board of Directors Board Member
Executive committee member for Justin Vineyards and Winery Marketing Board member for the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance Wine Institute Export committee member
PERSONAL INTERESTS
Hiking with a family dog
Cooking
Reading
Fly Fishing/avid outdoor enthusiast and environmentalist Traveling
V olunteering with the NPCA (National Parks Conversation Association in Alaska) & The Sierra Club