Joe Waechter was named CEO in March of 2010. Joe’s background in logistics, fulfillment and business management is extensive. Prior to joining WineDirect, he held positions as President and CEO of DHL Worldwide Express and Managing Director of California Pacific Capital, a San Francisco-based investor in early stage companies. During his 18 year tenure at DHL, he is credited with the company’s growth and expansion as it transitioned from a virtually unknown company into one of the world’s largest logistic companies. He was also President and CEO of Air Micronesia, Chairman of United Micronesia Development Company and Chairman of Danao International.

During his time at WineDirect, Joe has transformed our business into a leading provider of integrated direct sales technology and services for the wine industry.

Joe’s vision for WineDirect is to fully support wineries in all aspects of direct to consumer sales, with a comprehensive product and service offering designed to help customers achieve success in the direct sales channel. He strives to build an aspirational culture with visions of becoming not only the best company in our category, but the most unique in our passion for serving our clients.

Jena has been with WineDirect for over 8 years and has proven to be a strong team contributor to both internal and external growth. She currently leads the Client Success Teams across Ecommerce and Fulfillment and has also been responsible for Fulfillment sales growth of over $50 million in revenue. Jena is extremely committed to supporting the success of our winery partners and has led the development of programs such as our strong Onboarding program, our WineDirect Academy training program, and most recently a new digital marketing program to enable the wine community to succeed with modern ecommerce practices. Jena takes great pride in team development and mentorship.

Jena holds an International Executive MBA from Trium which incorporates work within NYU Stern School of Business, London School of Economics and HEC Paris. Travel, Salsa dancing and her new dog Boseman keep her busy.

An expert in the wine industry with more than 15 years experience in software-as-a-service (SaaS) and logistics, Jim leads WineDirect's Ecommerce team.

Since joining WineDirect, Jim has been instrumental in growing our fulfillment business as well as leading the sales and marketing teams. He is also the driving force behind WineDirect's unique Marketplace Distribution offering that enables wineries to sell direct to consumer via partners including eBay and Vivino.

Previously, Jim held positions with ShipCompliant and FedEx Services. At FedEx, he was Subject Matter Expert in field sales and earned recognition as a top performer and leader (President’s Club and Five Star). He also created the landmark affinity relationship between the Wine Institute and FedEx. Jim was responsible for sales at ShipCompliant, a leading regulatory compliance SaaS provider. He played an integral part during the early years of their explosive growth.

Jim and his family live in Napa. He loves being a dad and all things outdoors.

Andrea joined WineDirect in January 2021 and brings to WineDirect extensive experience in the wine and hospitality businesses. She has a deep love for DTC and especially enjoys helping wine companies find creative ways to maximize their results.

After beginning her career in Toronto with Procter & Gamble, Andrea moved to California to join Gallo Winery, where she worked for 10 years in positions focusing on a variety of areas including new product development, on-premise marketing and international business development and marketing. Her career progressed to include roles including Vice President of Marketing with Constellation, Global Marketing at Treasury Wine Estates, and 7 years as CMO with Foley Family Wines where she launched the disruptive Foley Food and Wine Society loyalty program. She then headed to the Okanagan Valley in Canada where she headed up Marketing and Direct to Consumer for Mark Anthony Group and led significant growth across Canada’s most prominent luxury wineries. Most recently, Andrea gained start up experience leading marketing for the fast-growing McBride Sisters Collections.

Andrea and her family live in Livermore, where she enjoys food and wine, fitness and all things pop culture.

John brings to WineDirect extensive experience in both the wine industry and the technology sector. He has a keen understanding of our clients’ financial structures and varying business models, and is invaluable in our work to promote their financial health and growth.

Prior to joining WineDirect, John spent 12 years as Senior VP of Finance and Human Resources at WX Brands – formerly Winery Exchange – a premier supplier of national and exclusive alcohol beverage brands. He simultaneously served as SVP of Operations and Technology in WX’s TradePulse business unit.

Before working in the wine industry, John’s career began at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting), where he was a Consulting Manager within the company’s Financial Services practice. He then spent three years in banking and was subsequently critical in the growth of emerging database startup, Sybase, heading information technology and becoming the company’s first Chief Information Officer (CIO). Before joining the ranks at WX, John spent more than a decade as VP of Client Services overseeing technology and operations with Instill Corporation, a supply chain reporting company in the foodservice industry.

Jim is a senior product leader with 15+ years in building SaaS products in the fintech, ecommerce and real estate technology verticals. He has been responsible for launching products in both startup environments and helping organizations transition from legacy products to new modern platforms.

He recognizes the importance of teamwork and collaboration in bringing new products to market. Before WineDirect, he led a team that delivered an award-winning cloud accounting and invoicing App to entrepreneurs and small business owners in over 120 countries. Jim obsesses over creating delightful customer experiences and simplifying ecommerce for entrepreneurs.

In his spare time, Jim loves exploring the backroads of the Pacific Northwest via motorcycle, is an avid mountain biker and hockey dad.

After beginning his career at UPS in 1999 Chris has worked in Operations, Logistics, Supply Chain and Distribution over the past 20 years. His career has moved him into progressively larger roles at DHL, Cornerstone Brands, and Geodis Corporation where he started as Senior Director of Operations and was promoted to Vice President of Operations in 2017. Chris has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering, holds a Six Sigma Black Belt and places a high value on data driven decision making.

Chris and his wife live outside of Cleveland where they enjoy spending time outdoors and visiting with friends and family.

Leading the Ecommerce Engineering and Platform teams, Dan brings over fifteen years of experience building and leading software engineering teams, with a focus on cloud services and Saas. Throughout his career, Dan has been integral in laying the engineering foundation for a wide-range of businesses including start-ups and turnaround situations which required rebuilding a team. Dan is a leader who is committed to building a product and engineering culture which allows technical teams to flourish while they create impactful products.

Dan and his team are fully focused on modernizing the WineDirect Ecommerce platform by executing a complete rebuild of the product. Dan loves baseball, hockey, boating near Vancouver, and spending time with his family.

An expert in beverage alcohol law, Matt manages WineDirect’s business and operational legal matters, provides the company with regulatory counsel and manages human resources. In addition, he acts as liaison to the Wine Institute and the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators (NCSLA).

Prior to joining WineDirect in 2007, Matt spent thirteen years as a winery General Manager on the Central Coast, including ten years at Presidio Vineyard and Winery in Lompoc, CA. During this time he oversaw all administrative, financial and compliance operations, including applying for and maintaining all federal and state licenses. As a result, Matt has a deep and practical understanding of the legal and compliance challenges wineries face when selling direct-to-consumer.

Matt holds a JD from the University of Oregon and has been a member of the State Bar of California since 1992.

Kalani joins WineDirect and the wine industry spending 17 years working as a technology leader in the automotive industry. Kalani heads the WineDirect Security and Data teams as well as the Corporate and Fulfillment IT functions. He oversaw the launch of the WineDirect IT Security Operations Center (SOC) which is staffed 24x7 and monitors WineDirect systems for potential threats in real-time. Kalani also established the WineDirect Enterprise Data Platform which leverages the latest and most advanced Data Technology tools and provides WineDirect with industry-leading data analytics capability.

Prior to joining WineDirect, Kalani spent 7 years as CTO and then CIO at Driven Brands, Inc. 

Kalani loves nothing more than being a husband and a father. Riding his bike and tinkering with technology follow closely behind.

Leader of the Client Success team, Jose’s experience with and dedication to WineDirect and our clients is unmatched. He has been with the company for over 6 years and has created a culture of enthusiasm and commitment that has resulted in a thriving and satisfied clients base. Jose works diligently to ensure a best in class experience for our employees and clients, raising the bar for SaaS organizations with respect to SLAs and delivery of cohesive and comprehensive communications. Jose is passionate about building teams of unique individuals and creating paths for each to grow and reach their full potential.

Jose holds a Computer Science Engineering Degree from CETYS Universidad, in Mexico, the country Jose is proud to call home. Now, he lives in California with his wife and two children, and enjoys visiting winery clients in his free time.