North Bay professionals news: Alpha Omega, Notre Vue, C. Mondavi wineries, and more

Nicole Tufly has been promoted to vice president and controller of Santa Rosa-based Summit State Bank.

She joined the bank in 2018 and had been promoted to assistant vice president and assistant controller by year-end.

Prior to joining the bank, Tufly was the accounting manager at Ygrene Energy Fund Inc. and spent six years as assistant controller for Poppy Bank, according to Summit. As a longtime resident of Sonoma County, Tufly's career has advanced locally including positions with REACH Air Medical Services and Cattlemen's Inc.

Summit State Bank, a local community bank, had total assets of $622 million and total equity of $62 million on Dec. 31.

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Henrik Poulsen has returned to Alpha Omega winery in Napa as head winemaker.

Poulsen, who spent seven years as assistant winemaker working with winemaker Jean Hoefliger, steps into the lead position as Hoefliger shifts to consulting winemaker for all three brands in the Alpha Omega Collective, the winery stated.

For nearly 14 years, Poulsen and Hoefliger made wine together, working side-by-side at Newton Vineyard for six years then jointly arriving at Alpha Omega to launch Robin and Michelle Baggett'swinery in 2006.

In 2010, Poulsen founded his own label, which is produced at Alpha Omega, and a wine consulting business. He departed Alpha Omega in 2013 for Acumen Wines, reuniting him with Denis Malbec, Acumen's founding winemaker and Alpha Omega's former consulting winemaker. Poulsen was selected as director of winemaking and executive manager at Acumen.

Hoefliger's move to consulting winemaker for Alpha Omega matches the role that he already held for the other two brands under the Alpha Omega Collective: Tolosa in San Luis Obispo in California's Edna Valley and Perinet in Spain's Priorat region.

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Alex Holman has been named winemaker of Notre Vue Estate and Balverne Wines in Windsor. Most recently at Rack & Riddle, Holman has also made wine for Keller Estate, J. Rickards, Dry Creek Vineyard and Paul Hobbs. Holman graduated from California State University, Fresno, with a Bachelor's of Science degree in chemistry after spending five years in the U.S. Army.

In addition, Kirk Tomiser has been named national sales and marketing manager. The winery stated Tomiser has more than twenty years of experience as a supplier with both multi-state and national responsibilities. He began his career at Mueller Distributing Company and went on to regional and national sales management positions at Barefoot Cellars, Dry Creek Vineyard, Rutherford Wine Company, Stoller Imports and most recently, Provence Rose Group. He graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Daniel Charles has also been named the winery's viticulturist. Charles has worked in the vineyards for Bayview Vineyards in Napa, Balletto Vineyards in Sonoma and Gallo Vineyards in Monterey and San Luis Obispo as well as in in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a degree in agricultural business.

Founded in 1992 by Bob and Renée Stein, Notre Vue Estate produces Notre Vue and Balverne wines from its estate vineyards. Encompassing both the Chalk Hill and Russian River appellations, the estate consists of 710 acres (250 acres are planted to 18 varietals including chardonnay, viognier, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, malbec, syrah and cabernet franc), and 350 acres are preserved as “Forever Wild.”

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Riana Mondavi has been appointed director of chains off-premise, West, for C. Mondavi & Family, the parent company behind wineries and brands such as Charles Krug, CK Mondavi, Flat Top Hills and Purple Heart Wines.

After joining the family business 2011, she worked her way up from Pacific Northwest regional sales manager to her latest role. Also, Spencer Tirschek has been promoted to director of national accounts on-premise. With over 12 years of industry experience, Tirschek previously held sales and management roles at Vintage Wine Distributor Inc. before joining C. Mondavi & Family.

Additionally, Christopher Mouriski joins C. Mondavi & Family as the sales vice president for the West. Mouriski previously held sales and sales finance roles at Beam Wine Estates and Delicato Family Vineyards. Most recently, Mouriski acted as director sales operations for Treasury Wine Estates.

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Joe Orlando, ASA, has joined Exit Strategies Group Inc. in Petaluma as vice president of valuation services.

The firm stated that over the past 11 years Orlando has led the business valuation practice for Frank Rimerman + Co. LLP, a large Northern California public accounting firm focused on tax, financial reporting and stock-option valuations. Orlando's earlier professional background includes technology investment banking, strategic planning for a public company and multiple entrepreneurial endeavors, the company stated. He has an MBA in finance from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from St. Lawrence University.

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David Berry has joined Welty, Weaver & Currie in Healdsburg as of counsel.

Berry's practice is largely focused on resolving business, real estate, construction defect, elder abuse, trust, and probate disputes, the firm stated. He started his career practicing with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, in Los Angeles. He then served as deputy district attorney for Lake County before joining the firm of Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery, where he was a partner.

Welty, Weaver & Currie opened a second office in Santa Rosa in 2018 and continues to serve Northern California as a full-service law firm, adding employment law and fire recovery services.

Founder Mike Welty continues in the of-counsel role at Welty, Weaver & Currie.

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Erin MacDonald, M.D., has joined Northern California Medical Associates' OB/GYN Center in Santa Rosa.

She completed her residency training at a level 1 trauma center serving a diverse, high-risk patient population, and went on to graduate from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee, with a specialty in obstetrics and gynecology.

MacDonald is now seeing patients at 500 Doyle Park Drive, Suite 103.

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Tom Dixon has joined the St. Helena office of Terra Firma Global Partners as an associate and will serve clients throughout Napa County.

The firm stated that Dixon switched careers to real estate in 2005 after working for 20 years in the wine industry. Dixon earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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Rawson Gulick has joined Willow Creek Wealth Management, Sebastopol, as an associate adviser.

Prior to Willow Creek, she held various institutional-level positions in trading and client services at Morgan Stanley and Broadmark Asset Management. Rawson has a bachelor's degree from Georgia Southern University and is a chartered alternative investment analyst.

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Laura Manges has been hired to work in business development at Fusion Technology Solutions. The Healdsburg firm said she will handle new business throughout the North Bay and Southern California. She previously worked with Verizon and Integra Telecom Business divisions.

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Karen Buck has been hired as a recruiter and human resources consultant by Leap Solutions Group Inc., a business management consulting firm. Buck earned her bachelor's degree in sociology, human resources management certification and a master's degree in organization development from Sonoma State University. Most recently, she worked as an HR analyst for FireEye Inc., a global cybersecurity firm in Silicon Valley, the company stated.

Also, Bianca Rose has been promoted to recruiting and human resources coordinator. Rose has “proven to be especially invaluable in serving our Spanish-speaking community with HR trainings, materials and more,” the company stated.

Mary Henderson moved to the position of client relations, and human resources consultant Christine Rodman has been elected secretary and communications director for the California State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (CalSHRM).

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Erik Okstad, P.E., has joined MKM & Associates of Rohnert Park as a senior design engineer. He has a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He has over 12 years of experience working on high-profile projects that include the University of California Merced, Stanford School of Medicine and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the firm stated.

Jennifer Briggs has been hired as a structural designer. She is a recent graduate of California Polytechnic State University with a Master of Science degree in architectural engineering.

Andrew Morey, a recent graduate of Sonoma State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, also joins the firm's administrative team.

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Robert Holden has been hired by Bank of Marin as a senior vice president and regional manager of its San Francisco commercial banking office. The bank stated that Holden brings 35 years of commercial banking and senior leadership experience, first as a management trainee with an international bank followed by successive executive positions at a number of community banks in both San Francisco and the Peninsula.

He is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in history.

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Celeste Philip, M.D., MPH, has been hired as Sonoma County's health officer.

Philip comes to the county after serving as Florida's surgeon general and secretary of health for almost three years, managing a staff of over 13,000 and a $3 billion budget, the announcement stated.

Prior to the roles in Florida, the third most populous U.S. state, Philip served in various leadership positions within the Florida Department of Health, totaling over 10 years.

A graduate of Howard University, Philip earned a Master of Public Health in maternal and child health and a Doctor of Medicine from Loma Linda University in California.

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Alegria De La Cruz, a Santa Rosa mother and chief deputy Sonoma County counsel, has been chosen to fill the area 3 seat on the Santa Rosa City Schools board.

De La Cruz played a key role during the 2017 wildfires in translating emergency public communications into Spanish. She also serves on the board of Los Cien, the county's largest Latino leadership organization.

The central Santa Rosa seat was vacated after Evelyn Anderson resigned from the board last month to fill the interim co-principal position at the Santa Rosa French-American Charter School.

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The American Red Cross of the California Northwest will be honoring 10 inspirational community members at its 16th annual Real Heroes Breakfast on Friday, May 17, at the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Santa Rosa.

Category winners include Service to Animals/Animal Rescue Heroes: Christi Moncho and Diego Camblor; Disaster Services Hero: Jeff Okrepkie; Humanitarian Adult Hero: Elizabeth Quiroz-Vasquez; Humanitarian Youth Hero: Liam Richardson (Sonoma County); and Service to the Armed Forces Hero: Frank Parker (Lake County).

Table sponsorships and individual tickets are still available at redcross.org/calnwheroes.

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