Wine Country Times

Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute is celebrating its 25th anniversary of its legacy as a wine business education and research pioneer, being the first college in the U.S. to offer a wine-focused undergraduate degree in 1998. 

“The 25th anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate the Wine Business Institute’s achievements and look ahead,” Dr. Jean-Francois Coget, dean of the School of Business and Economics, said, Sonoma State University reported. “I look forward to discovering new ways the Wine Business Institute can be of service to the wine industry, including advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Not only does the school offer an undergraduate degree focused on wine, but added a Wine MBA in 2008 and an Executive Wine MBA in 2012. 

“This is a celebration of the partnerships and many stakeholders that have made our vision of providing exemplar wine business education and research a possibility. Our faculty, our board members and all who have supported our mission with their time, talent and treasure have made our achievements possible. It is also a celebration of our students and alumni who advance the reputation of the institute, today and into the future, through the many accomplishments of their careers, in the many places where they work and thrive throughout the wine industry,” Ray Johnson, executive director of the Wine Business Institute at SSU, said, Sonoma State University reported. 

The school proudly has alumni in many areas of the wine business in the U.S. Some alumni include Shannon Donnell, a grower relations and vineyard operations manager at Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards, and Claire Hobday, chief financial officer at C. Mondavi & Family. 

“Congratulations to the Wine Business Institute on its 25th anniversary. I am proud to be an alumna of this game-changing institution at Sonoma State University,” Hobday said, Sonoma State University reported. “I would not have secured my current role as CFO at C. Mondavi & Family were it not for my networking and the education I received in the Executive Wine MBA program.”

Within 25 years, the school has opened the Wine Spectator Learning Center, raised $500,000 in scholarships, seen 10,400 students enroll in professional wine business development classes and had 980 students graduate with a bachelor's in wine business and 215 with a master's. 

“The Wine Business Institute has much to celebrate, and is one of the jewels of Sonoma State University,” President Judy Sakaki of Sonoma State University said, Sonoma State University reported. “From partnering with industry in providing quality wine business education and research to creating opportunities for under-resourced and first-generation college students, the Wine Business Institute is at the forefront of creating social change at SSU and in our global community.”