Governance
Wine Communicators of Australia operates as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee according to the rules contained in its Constitution. When joining WCA, all members are required to formally acknowledge their agreement to abide by these rules.
National Board
WCA is governed by a National Board, whose members are elected by the WCA members at the Annual General Meeting held in November of each year and are drawn from each of the States in which WCA has a Chapter (New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria).
Our current Board Members are:
With experience in senior roles in fashion, marketing, change management and adult education, Marni is a consultant, advisor, educator, mentor and facilitator, passionate about developing the business acumen of industry professionals by creating customised executive education programs and advisory services.
A strong advocate of industry needs being met through education, Marni is committed to content that is accessible, practical and can be readily applied by individuals and organisations. Having worked with a diverse client base, including Coopers, Yalumba, Caltex, Department of Defence, Myer, Red Cross, Repco, and Toyota, Marni has expertise in leadership and culture, finance, negotiation and communication, consumer trends, supply chain management, marketing, governance and strategic planning.
Lynda held the role of Executive Officer (EO) for Wine Communicators of Australia between August 2016-2020 where she was instrumental in developing the inaugural Wine Industry Mentor Program partnership with The University of Adelaide, re-invigorating the Wine Media Cadetship for aspiring young people I the field of wine media and communications and bringing the Wine Media Conference to Australia.
Lynda left Wine Communicators of Australia’s EO position to focus her attention on her Outsource Marketing Consultancy business, Purple Giraffe, founded in 2014.
Lynda is the winner of the Fabulous Ladies of Wine, 2018 Wine Marketer of the Year and a 2019 Telstra Business Woman of the Year, Small Business Category Finalist.
A passionate supporter of industry education, Rob and Tucker Seabrook established the Australian operations for the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) in 1991 and today is an Australian Ambassador for the world’s largest wine & spirit education organisation the UK based Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) plus also working with the Oceania Board of the highly respected worldwide Court of Master Sommeliers.
Toni’s strengths lie in her strategic thinking, experience across the wine community, strong relationships and results driven approach. She is an Advisory Board Member for the Australian Women in Wine Awards, has undertaken a Masters in Wine Marketing and is passionate about growing the Australian wine community.
Annabel previously worked at BGWA, Wine Australia, PIRSA, Adelaide Hills Regional Development and a number of wineries, always looking for ways of creating value and “wow” experiences for wine drinkers, guests and visitors and helping the wineries to deliver these.
Annabel studied Wine Marketing at Roseworthy Agricultural College in the 1980’s, completed an MBA, majoring in strategic marketing, graduating in 2000 and recently achieved a career goal of being awarded the WSET Diploma in Wine. She also led the BGWA team that received the Wine Communicator of the Year 2019, as well as Best Wine PR Campaign and Best Wine Website at the Wine Communicators of Australia Awards in November 2019.
Alex is the CEO and Founder of Smile Marketing, a growth marketing services business which provides end-to-end project management, marketing strategy development, digital marketing, social media, design, event management and customer experience programs.
Alex’s work is focused on consumer and service-based brands in wine, beer, agribusiness, technology and financial services. He also works in the trade and investment space in major export markets including USA, UK, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. and other emerging markets.
He has had significant involvement working with government and the private sector on such national and regional challenges as Productivity, Leadership, Innovation and Strategic Growth.
For the last 14 years, Angus worked for Pernod Ricard Winemakers as the Global Brand Communications and Heritage Director. He has a Bachelor of Economics (Accounting) from Sydney University and a Diploma from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET). He also was a graduate of the first intake of the wine industry’s Future Leaders Program. He is currently a Vice President of the NSW Wine Industry Association.
Previously Stephanie was the Country Manager for Wine Intelligence Aus/NZ and has held senior global marketing roles with Kobrand Corporation NY, Rathbone Wine Group and Yabby Lake. Stephanie has a Bachelor of Arts (Marketing and Media), Graduate Diploma in Marketing from the University of Melbourne (MBS) and the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 Award in Wines.
A Roseworthy Wine Marketing graduate and 2017 Future Leaders alumni, Coaching Mastery participant for Future Leaders 2019, Shirley was also top 3 Finalist for Marketer of the Year 2018 Australian Women in Wine Awards and was a judge for the WISA Impact Awards 2019. Dedicated to unlocking the potential of each brand she works with regardless of size or scope, Shirley is a collaborative problem solver. Cultivating authentic stories, uniqueness and causes, to build connections between brands in routes to market to achieve sustainable success.
Current Board member of Riverland Wine Management Committee; National Board member of Wine Communicators Australia; and Chair of the SA Chapter of Wine Communicators of Australia; and actional board for AWIWA. Striving for the encouragement and advocacy of diversity and the support of all wine professionals.
She re-joined the family business at the beginning of 2015 in the role of Marketing and Public Relations Manager and also travels interstate and internationally as a Henschke brand ambassador.
Justine is a member of a number of committees and boards, including the Australia’s First Families of Wine Marketing Committee and Next Generation Committee, the Eden Valley Riesling Committee and is a national board member of Wine Communicators of Australia.