FOUNDER & managing partner

Pat DeLong

Pat DeLong is the Founder and Managing Partner of Azur Associates. He has over 30 years of experience working with consumer brands across private and public companies. Pat has served in a number of roles including Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at some of the leading consumer beverage companies, including Crimson Wine Group, Constellation Brands, Robert Mondavi Corporation and Francis Ford Coppola Companies. Pat’s early career includes consulting and advisory work with Deloitte in San Francisco. 

Pat’s history as a leader has provided him with significant experience working with Board of Directors and executive management teams on strategic planning, management and organization structure, financing, capital allocation, mergers and acquisitions, route to market strategy and performance management. Pat’s background in mergers and acquisitions includes some of the most significant transactions in the wine space, both on the buy and the sell side. 

In addition, Pat has significant experience with public companies and public company BOD’s having served as a public company CEO, CFO and Senior Vice President of Planning and Finance over a 20 year span. 

Pat completed the Strategic Planning Executive Program at the University of Michigan, post graduate studies in the Masters of Applied Economics Program at the University of Seattle and his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance & Accounting from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. In his early career, Pat earned his Certified Public Accounting license in both California and Washington. 

Pat has served on multiple Board of Directors (BOD’s) in the beverage space. In addition, he has served on college BOD’s including Cal Poly’s Alumni Association where his work there led to his award as Alumni of The Year for the Cal Poly Orfalea College of Business in 2011. 

principal, route to market

Ed LeMay

Ed LeMay has almost 35 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”.

Managing director, strategic insights & data

Dale Stratton

Dale Stratton brings over 35 years of experience in the Beverage Alcohol Industry to his role. Dale recently retired from Constellation Brands where he was the Vice President, Commercial Insights working across their Beer, Wine, and Spirits divisions. While at Constellation Brands he oversaw consumer and shopper insights, consumer affairs, business analytics, market research, category management initiatives and the wine sensory program. Dale’s extensive work linking consumer and shopper insights and market analysis with business objectives and strategies enable him to translate insights into action. 

Prior to joining Constellation Brands in 2006, Dale spent 22 years working at E&J Gallo where he began his career. During his tenure, he covered a wide range of responsibilities that included distributor management, account management, strategic insights and Lean Six Sigma.

Dale has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism with a concentration in Public Relations from Colorado State University and an Executive MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Managing director, category & consumer insights

Danny Brager

Danny Brager is the former Senior Vice President of Nielsen’s Beverage Alcohol Practice Area in the United States, where for close to 20 years he led teams that supported relationships with Nielsen’s many Beer, Wine, and Spirits clients, as well as with key industry groups and the media. In that role, he succinctly provided data driven analysis and insights, focused on the U.S. retail environment and consumer/shopper – who they are, what they buy, and why - and what to expect looking ahead. 

Danny’s informed opinions are well-respected by beverage alcohol producers, importers, distributors, retailers, and financiers. He frequently speaks at functions for individual companies as well as notable industry conferences, including Unified Wine and Grape Symposium, Wine Market Council events, the Wine Industry Financial Symposium, and the Wine and Spirits Daily Summit, among others.

Danny was born in Calgary, Alberta and moved to Toronto where he graduated from the Schulich School of Business at York University with an honors bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Managing director, MARKETING & DTC

Emilie Eliason

Emilie Eliason has worked in the premium wine and spirits business for almost two decades. Prior to joining Azur, Emilie served as the CEO of Truett Hurst Winery and General Manager at Geodesy Wine, a social enterprise brand supporting young women’s leadership programs. 

Emilie began her wine career at Diageo in brand marketing and has also held marketing and sales roles at Treasury Wine Estates, J Vineyards and Winery and E & J Gallo. She has extensive experience in strategic development, brand planning, creating omnichannel marketing strategies and building and growing DTC businesses. Prior to wine and spirits, Emilie worked at Clorox and Yahoo! in brand marketing and market research. 

Emilie holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Amherst College and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

managing director, Winemaking and production

Matt Parish

Matt Parish is an International Winemaker with over 25 years of experience.  Matt brings to Azur Associates a high-level of winemaking and production expertise in small privately-held entities through to the largest publicly-listed wine companies.

For 15 years Matt held various Regional and International Group Director, Chief Winemaker and Wine Officer roles at Constellation Brands, Treasury Wine Estates and Nakedwines.com.  In these positions, Matt established teams, winemaking direction and the management framework to produce and optimize large complex International portfolios.  Matt is also recognized for developing strong cross-functional relationships with Sales/Marketing/Finance to drive wine quality and sound financial decision making for improved product, portfolio and, ultimately, business profitability.

For more than 10 years Matt has consulted to a diverse range of small, medium and large wine businesses all over the winemaking world.  Specialties include strategic planning, international sourcing, value engineering, portfolio and new product development, site and team management, operational and capital planning, asset due diligence and post-acquisition integration.

Integral to Matt’s approach is his rare appreciation and ability to balance the art, science and business of wine.

Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in Plant and Microbial Sciences from Canterbury University, a master’s degree in Viticulture and Oenology with honors from Lincoln University, and Executive Education credentials from the Wharton School and Australian Institute of Management. 

ASSOCIATE, M&A, FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS

Dori Havner

Dori Havner has been a Finance professional specializing in financial planning, reporting, modeling, analysis, and project management roles for over 25 years. She began her wine business career at Robert Mondavi Corporation and has also worked for Constellation Brands and Crimson Wine Group. Her experience also includes iconic brands outside of the wine industry, including Hewlett-Packard and Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

With her extensive experience, combined with degrees in Economics from UC San Diego and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Dori delivers high quality results. She has worked as Project Manager for several significant initiatives in the beverage industry and elsewhere, including working capital optimization, ERP and Corporate Performance Management system implementations, and also managed the related business analysis and planning and reporting support.

ASSOCIATE, M&A & FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Griffin Mitchell

Griffin Mitchell joined Azur in 2023 as an Associate in M&A and Financial Analysis. He has over 5 years of consumer products accounting and finance experience.

Prior to joining Azur, Griffin was an Investment Banking Associate at Skyway Capital Markets, where he assisted privately-owned businesses on majority recapitalizations and transaction readiness.

A Sonoma County native, Griffin began his career in PwC’s Assurance practice in San Francisco, where he was first exposed to the wine industry. He later joined Deloitte’s M&A practice, where he performed buy & sell-side financial due diligence within the consumer and technology verticals.

Griffin earned a master’s degree in accounting from UC Davis and a bachelor’s degree in finance from CSU Chico. He holds an active Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license in California and New York.

Bill Angeloni

Co-Founder, Tenzing Consulting

Bill Angeloni is the co-founder and director of Tenzing Consulting. He has over 25 years of experience as an executive and management consultant driving operational excellence and performance improvement for clients around the world. He has led global initiatives for Fortune 500 clients from diversified manufacturing, to process industries and high tech. These projects have spanned strategy, supply chain, and operations. Also, Bill has held industry leadership roles as a General Manager, CFO, CEO, and board member. He has founded four companies and worked with over 30 start-ups over the last 15 years in various roles.

In his prior experience, Bill was the President and CEO of Exostar LLC, a joint venture between aerospace giant’s BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Rolls-Royce. In addition, Bill co-founded C2FO, a company creating markets for working capital from large corporations’ accounts payables. Bill was also an executive at FreeMarkets, a pioneer company in “e-sourcing” that revolutionized 21st-century procurement. He opened the European office and subsequently ran the Aerospace and Defense business unit. FreeMarkets was acquired by Ariba in 2004.

Bill has served in many roles consulting with A.T. Kearney, The Canaan Group Ltd. (a Booz Allen spin-off), United Airlines, and the United States Navy. He holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy.

Chris Fehrnstrom

CEO & PRINCIPAL, WHITE BARN CONSULTING Group LLC

Chris Fehrnstrom is the CEO and Principal of White Barn Consulting Group, LLC. He has over 25 years of experience in public and private corporations serving a multitude of senior roles including President, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer. During that time, he was on the front line of delivering bottom line results while actively engaged in executive leadership, strategic planning, M&A, brand marketing, innovation, and organizational design.

His experience fuels his belief that exceptional results can be achieved with the right strategy, resonant individual leadership and highly functioning teams. He uses his broad background in transforming organizations to help others increase their own impact.

Chris holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire. He currently serves on the board of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and has previously served on the board of Banfi Vintners. He was also Chairman of the Wine Institute, the preeminent trade organization serving the California wine industry as well as Chairman of the Wine Market Council, an association of grape growers, wine producers, importers, and wholesalers dedicated to growing the wine market in the U.S.

Hillary Ryan

CEO, Hillary Ryan Group

Hillary is based in the Napa Valley Compass real estate office and focuses on helping her clients transact wine country property including residential, vineyard and land development opportunities. Hillary draws upon her strong local network and over two-decades of real estate experience to help her clients select, understand and transact wine country real estate.

Hillary has closed high-value real estate since the start of her career in 1997. Over the past 22 years, Hillary has a wide range of real estate experience including brokerage, banking and commercial real estate investment. She focused the first part of her career work for highly reputable, Bay Area based companies including First Republic Bank, Prado Group, AMB Property Corporation (now ProLogis) and DivcoWest.

In 2015, Hillary was recognized as one of the top 100 real estate professionals in the United States by REAL Trends. In 2017 and 2018 she was again named to the Top 200.

Rodney Williams

President diageo beer & President, diageo canada

Rodney Williams is a seasoned senior executive with a best of class marketing and brand management background and is currently the President of Diageo Beer and Diageo Canada. Most recently, Rodney was President & CEO of Belvedere Vodka. Prior to Belvedere, Rodney was CMO and EVP of Moët & Hennessy USA, which followed his prior role as Senior Vice President of Hennessy where he was responsible for the #1 selling Cognac brand in the US.

Prior to joining Moët Hennessy, Rodney served as SVP of Classics Brands at Jackson Family Wines (Kendall-Jackson) and SVP of Robert Mondavi Lifestyle Brands at Constellation Wines, where he oversaw the successful turnaround of Woodbridge.

Before joining the wine business, Rodney headed the marketing team behind the innovative launch of OnStar for General Motors. He began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.

Rodney has served on the boards of Pkolino LLC, a manufacturer of innovative children's furniture, Cal Humanities, which promotes cultural literacy in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Association of National Advertisers. He is an advisor and charter director of UMCECS (the United Movement to End Child Soldiering) based in Washington D.C. and Kampala, Uganda.

Rodney earned his BA from Amherst College and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.