Corporate
Vern Underwood
Chairman of the Board
Vern Underwood has spent his entire career at Young's Market Company, working in virtually every capacity over the years. Together with his sister, Janet, Vern is co-owner of the Company. As Chairman of the Board and CEO of Young's Holdings, Vern oversees the Company's operations and assets in the Western US states Young's operates. In addition Vern is Co-Chairman and CEO of the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Wilson Daniels Ltd., one of the nation's leading importers and distributors of fine wines and spirits. Vern is a graduate of the University of Southern California where he obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. Both Vern and Janet are generous supporters of local charitable causes including Hoag Memorial Hospital, Mission Children's Hospital of Orange County, the Boys' and Girls' Clubs, and Chapman University.
Office Location: Aliso Viejo
Chris Underwood
CEO, Young's Market Company
In addition to being the Chief Executive Officer of Young’s Market Company, LLC; Chris is a member of the Board of Directors of Young’s Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Young’s Market Company. He has been an employee, officer and/or director of Young’s Market Company for his entire adult life.
In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of Young’s Market Company, Chris oversees all facets of the Company’s business operations in all markets which include California, Hawaii, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.
He reports directly to Vern Underwood, Chairman of Young’s Holdings, Inc. Chris is a graduate of the University of Southern California where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications.
Office Location: Tustin
Ted Simpkins
Executive Vice President, Corporate
In his role as Executive Vice President, Corporate, Ted is responsible for development of new business, creation of long and short term strategic initiatives, and enhancement of supplier relations. Ted has had a long and distinguished career in the wine and spirits industry, bringing over 3 decades of sales and management experience. Ted spent 39 years with another major wholesaler, 27 of them in California, with his most recent role as Executive VP Managing Director. In addition to his distributor experience, Ted is also founder of Lancaster Estate located in California’s Alexander Valley.
Office Location: Tustin
Kevin Manion
Executive Vice President-Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Kevin oversees the finance, treasury, accounting, planning, real estate, logistics and purchasing functions of Young's Holdings, Inc., Young's Market Company, and Wilson Daniels, Ltd. Kevin has a wealth of experience in distribution and consumer products at Fortune 500 and mid-cap companies. Kevin earned his Accounting degree from the University of Notre Dame. He is a CPA, Certified Treasury Professional and Certified Production and Inventory Control Manager.
Office Location: Tustin
Don Robbins
Executive Vice President & General Counsel
In his role as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Don oversees all legal matters, including acquisitions, supplier agreements, litigation, regulatory compliance, labor relations and the legislative agenda for Young's Market Company and all affiliated companies. Prior to joining Young's Market Company in 1999, Don served as President of Hollywood Park, Inc and was a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Iverson, Yoakum, Papiano and Hatch where he performed a substantial amount of work on behalf of Young's Market Company. Don holds a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is an active member of the State Bar of California and earned his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.
Office Location: Aliso Viejo
Bob Richardson
Executive VP Corporate Logistics and Holdings
Bob is charged with ensuring that our distribution centers and delivery services provide excellent customer service and operate efficiently across the entire 10 state network. He has a strong industrial engineering and systems development background that he uses to develop our distribution facilities, offices, and logistics systems to best support sales efforts, healthy inventory levels, and the internal needs of our company and real estate holdings portfolio. Before rejoining the company fulltime in 2007, Bob managed and consulted for major companies in the pharmaceutical, action sports, beverage, aerospace, and other industries for 25 years. Since 1990, Bob has led Young’s physical and operating systems’ development including the Orange, Morgan Hill, and Chino distribution centers, as well as our Corporate Headquarters in Tustin.
Office Location: Tustin
Eric Dopkins
President, California
As President of Young’s California, Eric is responsible for all aspects of the Chain and General Market divisions. Eric is also responsible for Trade Development, Business Development, National Accounts and California Operations. Charged with delivering best in class performance and leading the organization in its evolution as a preeminent wine & spirits distributor, each function has evolved in 2011 and support our mission of being “Best in the West”,
Eric joined Young’s Market Company in May of 2010. Eric has over 20 years of spirit industry experience, most recently with Pernod Ricard, USA where he was Vice President and General Sales Manager of the Western US. Prior to Pernod Ricard, he held various sales and channel management roles with Diageo North America, prior to departing in 2007.
Office Location: Tustin
Greg Franklin
Senior Vice President & CIO
Greg is responsible for all Young’s Market Company & Affiliates communication and information systems. Greg is a 23 year veteran of the alcohol beverage industry, coming to Young’s from a successful career with another California distributor. Greg started on the ground floor as a computer operator and was steadily promoted to his last position of Director of Information Technology. During his tenure, he installed multiple systems ranging from departmental to enterprise-wide in scale, and brings expertise in programming, system assessment, system installations, communication systems and leadership in his field.
Office Location: Union City
Valerie Gart
Senior Vice President of Strategic Human Resources
Throughout her more than twenty year career, Val has been part of and led Human Resource groups at Fortune 100 organizations and middle-market businesses in manufacturing, sales and distribution, hi-tech manufacturing, and professional services. Her career experience was gained at Boeing, Epson America, Colgate Palmolive, National Starch & Chemical and BDO Seidman. Val’s generalist experience encompasses all facets of Human Resources management including: HR strategic planning; compensation and benefits; labor and employee relations; talent acquisition; HR information systems; safety; and organizational development and training. Val earned her Master and Bachelor degrees from Michigan State University in Labor Industrial Relations and Industrial Psychology respectively.
Office Location: Tustin
Dan Walker
Senior Vice President of Business Development
Dan has been the SVP of Business Development since April 2011. The team leads all sales analysis and reporting, delivers new systems and solutions to enhance front end sales support, leads pricing implementation and management of trade spends, and provides financial support to the sales teams. Additionally, Dan oversees Millennium Marketing, our new Strategic Retail payment, processing, and planning group. Dan started with Young’s in August 2010 as VP of Programming for Strategic Retail. Prior to joining Young’s Dan spent the previous 12 years in various roles with Diageo and The Seagram Company across finance, sales, and marketing in both domestic and international capacities. Dan holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with Distinction from the University of Alberta School of Business where he majored in Finance.
Office Location: Tustin
Eric Lake
Senior Vice President National Accounts On-Premise
Eric comes to YMCO with a successful 18 year career in the wine and spirits industry. He began his career working for the former Paddington Corporation as the Central Region National Accounts Manager. After eight years with Paddington / DIAGEO, Eric joined Southcorp Wines (Fosters) as Vice President National Accounts – On Premise. In 2002, he joined Nolet Spirits USA as Vice President ONP National Accounts, and most recently was the Division Vice President – Southern Region / ONP National Accounts.
Office Location: Tustin
Carl Carlson
Senior Vice President of Spirits and Other Fine Beverages for California
Carl is a 26 year industry veteran has been with the company since 1998, serving in various senior leadership roles. Currently Carl is the SVP of Spirits and selected beverages and is responsible to deliver the P&L objectives for our Spirits and selected beverage business in California.
He began his career in California with the E & J Gallo Winery in 1985, where he worked for 13 years in a variety of sales & management roles in the Western and Eastern U.S. on the supplier side, as well as, working inside independent distributors. He is a 1985 graduate of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Food Marketing, with a minor in Finance.
Office Location: Tustin
Donald Mackey
Senior Vice President of Wine
As Senior Vice President of Wine, Don oversees the financial and competitive aspects of our wine business in California, and assists the Arizona and Hawaii markets in achieving company directives. He began his career with E&J Gallo Sales Company in Northern California and then spent 10 years in the supplier network holding various management positions. Don made the change from supplier to wholesaler in 2006 when he took the Director of Marketing position at a major wholesaler in California. This position placed an emphasis on managing wine brand financials as well as ensuring strategic pricing across all channels of business.
He joined Young’s Market Company in 2010 as Vice President, Portfolio Management for the Estates Group Fine Wine division of Young’s Market Company. In September 2010, he was offered the position of Senior Vice President of Wines for California and moved to the corporate offices in Tustin, California.
Mr. Mackey obtained a Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies and a Minor in Business from Arizona State University.
Office Location: Tustin
Dan Grunbeck
Senior Vice President of Wine Strategy
Dan is a 20 year industry veteran with incomparable wine experience and expertise. Prior to joining Young’s, he has held a number of positions with prominent wineries and wine suppliers throughout his career, and most recently, serving as the Vice President / National Sales Manager Wines and Champagnes for Pernod Ricard.
Office Location: Tustin
Marc Mueller
Senior Vice President of Trade Marketing
As VP of Trade Development, Marc is accountable for trade activation including the linkage to on and off premise promotion s with the Greenhouse Agency and with our social media partner, Crowdstir. Marc works with our sales organization and suppliers to ensure these critical capabilities are properly connected to “win at retail”. In addition, Marc is responsible for the Young’s Market Company graphics department, venue activation and supplier trade initiatives.
Marc joined Young’s Market Company in 2011 bringing 17 years of experience in the Beverage Alcohol industry. Marc earned his B.A. in marketing from Loyola Marymount University.
Office Location: Tustin
Jim Barich
Vice President of Government Relations
As Vice President of Government Relations, Jim is responsible for the Company’s political and legislative affairs agendas in all the jurisdictions in which we operate. Jim has over thirty years of government affairs experience, most recently as Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Pinnacle Entertainment,a publically traded gaming company. He has also served as Vice President, Government Affairs, at The Irvine Company, a privately –owned real estate development enterprise, and served as Legislative Director to the former Congressman Glenn M. Anderson, chair of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. Jim is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science.
Office Location: Aliso Viejo
Robert Foss
Vice President Business Development
As Vice President of Business Development, Rob is developing or improving sales systems by working closely with sales and providing a needed link with IT. Rob has brought social media to YMCO with an official Facebook, Linked In and You Tube Channel. He also was the lead for the recent Website upgrade.
Rob has been with Young’s Market Company for over 14 years and has held management positions in each channel of business. This flexibility gives him the knowledge, and experience to help the sales and IT develop tools and processes that are current and relevant.
Office Location: Union City
Andrea Pridam
Vice President of Corporate Systems
Andrea is responsible for Sales Analysis and Reporting, including internal depletions, accounts sold, and profitability data, as well as external data such as AC Nielsen, TD Linx, and Adam’s Reports. In addition to working with the California Executive Management team to develop data insight tools, Andrea also collaborates across states to work toward consistent reporting for all YMC markets. Andrea is also a part of many project based initiatives, such as Corporate Presentations, budgeting, and RFP preparation.
Andrea holds a BA in International Business from California State University, Fullerton, as well as an MBA from Concordia University.
Office Location: Tustin
Brett Graves
Vice President Pricing
As Vice President of Pricing Support, Brett oversees all aspects of pricing and item maintenance functions in the three Young’s Southwest States of California, Hawaii and Arizona. Prior to joining Young’s Market Company in 1997, Brett held several positions within the Sales and Marketing segments of Diageo North America based in California. With over 30 years experience within the beverage alcohol industry Brett has a well rounded knowledge of the industry.
Office Location: Tustin
Matt Hagel
Vice President National Stratgic Retail
Coming Soon
Office Location: Union City
Geoff Labitzke
Vice President of Fine Wine
As Corporate Vice President of Fine Wine, Geoff works closely with the Company’s network of sales management in every market. He is an industry connoisseur of 18 years with a wealth of experience across all three tiers of the beverage alcohol business. Since joining Young’s Market Company in 2000, he has restructured the Company’s direct Bordeaux business, grown overall import volume within the Estates Group and mentored numerous Company employees through the Certification of Wine Specialist program.
Geoff is one of the elite 24 American Masters of Wine.
Office Location: San Francisco
Ted Galustian
Vice President Safeway Corporate
Ted has worked in the liquor industry for over seventeen years. His experiences, prior to YMCo, include working grocery retail (during college), Sales Rep at Heublein Wines, and Chain Headquarter Manager at Pyramid Brewing. He has been with YMCo since the year 2000, where he has ascended up the ranks and currently holds the position of Vice President. He is the main point of contact, for Safeway Corporate, for all states YMCo does business: California, Hawaii, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana. Ted earned his Bachelor degree from San Jose State in International Business.
Office Location: Union City
Bonner Paddock
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Partnership Activation
In his role as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Partnership Activation, Bonner oversees key strategic relationships across all facets including branding, sponsorship, media, activation and marketing platforms for Young’s Market Company. Prior to joining Young’s Market in 2010, Bonner served with the Anaheim Ducks/Honda Center and was Director of SMG agency. Bonner holds a B.A. from San Diego State University in Business Management. Bonner also is founder of OM foundation, a non-profit he started to build centers for disabled children in Africa and US.
http://www.1man1mission.org/
Office Location: Tustin
Melinda Nightengale
Director of Millennium Marketing
As Director of Millennium Marketing, Melinda is responsible for the day to day operations of Millennium Marketing. This includes overseeing the payments, processing and planning of the Strategic Retail Division and leading the future strategic direction of the group. Prior to joining the Young’s Market Company team, Melinda worked in the Hospitality and Retail industries for 14 years, including 4 years in the US Navy. As a past President and current Associate Vice President of the Christermon Foundation, a non-profit organization of the Beverage Alcohol Industry which supports charities and a scholarship program, Melinda is a liaison in demonstrating and promoting a positive image for our industry within the community.
Office Location: Tustin
