North Bay Business Journal

Diana Brennan, who has worked in Sonoma Raceway media relations since 1999, was promoted from director to senior director of media and community relations. …

Altus Equity Group in Santa Rosa hired Kristy Brooks as operations manager. …

Kyle Young is the newest agent of commercial real estate brokerage Keegan & Coppin Company, Inc./ONCOR International’s Santa Rosa office….

Novato-based Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Inc., appointed Eric Yuen, MD, chief medical officer and senior vice president. …

Marla Carroll was named winemaker at Franciscan Estate Winery in St. Helena. …

SONOMA — Food products co-packer MPK Sonoma Corp. shut down at the end of February after a customer that made up 95 percent of revenue took production in-house in March.

SONOMA — The Cline family who make two Sonoma Valley wine brands purchased The Olive Press, an olive mill that produces gourmet oil, food and personal-care products from olives.

The business has its mill and a tasting room in Sonoma and a tasting room at Oxbow Public Market in Napa.

The two largest wine label printing companies in the North Coast have been expanding through acquisition, organic growth and equipment upgrades in the past year and a half as sales of wine bottles have been accelerating.

The Business Journal honored 14 building projects last Thursday at its seventh annual Top Real Estate Projects Awards reception. The event allowed us to pause for a moment during this busy time of year to consider the accomplishments of the organizations, architects, designers, builders and others behind these significant projects.

Sonoma-based wine company Don Sebastiani & Sons upgraded its south Napa winery, now called Steelbird Cellars after birds that populate the area, with new bottling capabilities, high-tech treatment of water to reduce chemicals used, energy-efficient lighting and “showcase” offices and client reception area. …

Fresh off the dissolution of the Mendocino Wine & Winegrape Commission this summer, the new marketing organization, Mendocino Winegrowers, has partnered with Amazon.com to sell more than 500 wines from the county’s appellations in the large online retailer’s second attempt at wine-to-consumer sales. …

Nearly three years after expanding from franchisees of two Napa UPS Store locations into owner-operators of a wine order fulfillment business in south Napa, Bill and Patti Myers are expanding Eagle Rock Fulfillment for the fourth time. …

Wine Direct to Trade is St. Helena-based company started by two veterans of wine direct sales, marketing and wholesaling are trying to create an Internet-based platform to simplify the process of selling wine to trade accounts. …

Sonoma County Vintners hired Dana Macaulay as director of events. She will be managing the 200-member trade group’s U.S. and international events such as Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, a joint production with Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance. …

Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage hired Marion Ghiringhelli for a new position in North American sales and marketing of the company’s rapidly expanding oak-alternatives business. …

Novato-based wine accessories developer and distributor Cork Pops, which came up with the eponymous product for opening wine corks two decades ago and the vinOair bottle spout-aerator more recently, just released vinOice, a drip-resistant spout designed to chill a bottle of white or sparkling wine to an optimum temperature and keep it that way for up to an hour.

SONOMA VALLEY — Nearly five years after taking over cash-strapped Viansa Winery & Marketplace in Sonoma Valley, a New York-based hedge fund is considering a buyout offer from a former executive who quickly returned Viansa to profitably and has been running it since.

Recently I was invited to present at an event called LocalMade at the San Francisco headquarters of Gensler, the second largest architectural firm in the U.S. The goal was to introduce some of the principals’ favorite Bay Area artisans to their staff and also to network Gensler’s internationally known architects and interior designers with other San Francisco designers. It was an especially rich networking event because quality and innovation were requirements for participation.

Florida-based Halifax Media Group has agreed to sell the Press Democrat, North Bay Business Journal and Petaluma Argus-Courier to a group of local investors lead by Sonoma Media Investments, LLC, which purchased the Sonoma Index-Tribune earlier this year.

Assemblymember Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, honored students from Sun Valley Elementary School for their successful effort to urge the makers of felt-tip markers to develop a recycling program for their products.

The Chiligods, a chili sauce company based in Healdsburg, received one of the highest honors — “double gold” — at this year’s Sonoma County Harvest Fair.

ET Water Systems, Inc., a Novato-based “smart” irrigation management systems developer, significantly upgraded its award-winning ETwater Manager web-based system to accommodate rain forecasts.

NonProfitEasy, a technology startup and winner of the North Bay Business Plan Competition, announced a Series A equity funding commitment.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Envolve Winery in Sonoma will be promoting their campaign “Real Men Drink Pink” to help raise awareness and funds.

Nearly two dozen North Bay restaurants were named to the “Bib Gourmand” list, a highly sought-after designation among lower-priced gourmet restaurateurs, according to The Michelin Guide, which also awards the more famous Michelin stars.

Chief financial officer, The Other Guys, Inc., Sonoma. “Aside from providing strategic and financial direction to senior management a financial leader needs to be engaged in all levels of your business to ensure continuity and consistency throughout the organization to achieve success.”

SONOMA — Small-scale custom vintner Crushpad has new owners, who are busy trying to find a place to crush grapes for a few hundred hobbyist and commercial winemakers as harvest approaches.

Hospitality & Tourism column: The Thistle Dew Inn in downtown Sonoma has been purchased by new owners, who will rename the property as An Inn 2 Remember, according to Bay Area Development Company, a Walnut Creek-based SBA lender that provided the financing. …

Across California, restaurateurs, chefs and fine diners who fancy foie gras this week face a grim acknowledgement: their goose is cooked. …

Flavor Napa Valley, the star-studded food and wine festival that started last year as means of highlighting the culinary prowess of the region, will be back for a second year, organizers said. …

The Marin Convention and Visitors Bureau will be hosting a Tourism Summit on Thursday, Sept. 20, at Inn Marin in Novato from 10 a..m. to 2 p.m., with an introduction from Mark Essman on local, regional and state tourism trends presented by Visit California. …

SONOMA — Crushpad, a custom microvintner for hobbyists and small-scale wine programs, has denied reports that it is scrambling to come up with cash from investors to avoid a shutdown.

SONOMA — North Bay staffing leader Nelson announced that it will move into a larger space on Cleveland Avenue in Santa Rosa, where it will consolidate operations after posting significant growth over the year.

SONOMA — Increasing sales of wine plus greater demand for direct shipments has fulfillment services provider Wineshipping packing for a major expansion to Napa Valley.

SONOMA — Voters in Sonoma Valley on Tuesday easily passed a measure that extends for five years a $195 parcel tax that generates $2.8 million annually for the area’s public hospital.

Banking & Finance Jeff Gerlomes joined Bank of Napa, N.A. (OTCBB: BNNP) as vice president, marketing and relationship manager. Mr. Gerlomes  previously served on the bank’s  board of directors. He is a graduate of Sacramento State University, where he received B.A. He began his business career at American Savings and Loan where he served as a [...]

SONOMA — Craig Nelson will become chief executive officer of Sonoma-based The Nelson Family of Companies as a result of its recent sale of the WorkForceLogic division to Orlando-based ZeroChaos.