Jean-Michel Valette is one of just 24 North American Masters of Wine, having passed a series of notoriously difficult examinations in 1992. Most recently, Jean Michel was the Chairman of Robert Mondavi.
His broad business experience includes a role as Managing Director at Hambrecht & Quist, Inc., a San Francisco-based investment bank and venture capital company he joined in 1987 as a founder of its Branded Consumer practice; and at Franciscan Estates, where he served as President and CEO from 1998-2000. In addition, he currently sits on the board of directors for The Boston Beer Company, Select Comfort Corporation, and Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc. where he continues as Chairman.
Born in Boulder, CO to a French father and German mother, Jean-Michel grew up in France, Germany, and the US. He earned a B.A. (German Literature/Economics, 1980) and M.S. (Engineering Economic Systems, 1981) from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1985.
He has two children and lives in Kentfield, CA with his wife of 22 years, Janet.
Colin Lind is the Managing Partner of Blum Capital Partners, L.P. Based in San Francisco, Blum Capital is a public Strategic Block and private equity investment firm with $4.0 billion in assets under management.
Colin has been a partner of Blum for the past 20 years. He currently serves on the board of two public companies (Kinetic Concepts, Inc. and PRG-Shultz International, Inc.) and has previously been a director of three public and nine private companies.
Colin's education includes a Bachelor of Business Science (Finance Honors) from the University of Cape Town, South Africa and studies at the University of Oslo, Norway. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Golden Gate National Parks Conversancy, and is a prior long term trustee of the Aim High summer school program for "at risk" children.
Colin is married to Anne Dickerson Lind, with two young children, Oskar and Annabel.
Bill Timken has been a private investor since his retirement in 1999, residing in Lafayette, CA with his wife, Judy. They have 3 children and 5 grandchildren. He spent a total of 42 years in the securities industry, the last 30 years as a founding partner and later Vice Chairman of Hambrecht & Quist. He played a pivotal role bringing to market and capitalizing over 1,200 initial public offerings including technology & biotech companies Genentech, Apple, Netscape and Adobe and consumer companies Dreyer's Ice Cream, Neutrogena, Select Comfort, Boston Beer, Chalone Wine Group, Robert Mondavi, Beringer Wine Estates, and many others.
Bill is a 1957 graduate of Colby College and has served for 27 years on the Board of Trustees of Blair Academy in New Jersey, including 5 years as the school's Chairman. He serves as a director of publicly owned ReGen Biologics, a development stage orthopedic products company, as well as serving on the advisory boards of several venture capital and venture lending organizations.