The National Grape and Wine Initiative recently announced that wine industry executive Camron King has been selected as the new president of the organization effective May 2. He succeeds Jean-Mari Peltier, the organization's first president who served from 2008 to 2015.
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Camron King
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Since 2012, King has been executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, which represents 750 growers farming more than 110,000 acres of wine grapes. He has administered all of the commission's marketing, promotion, strategic planning and regional branding efforts, as well as grower constituent relations. He has served as the primary spokesperson for the Lodi wine industry and was instrumental in Lodi earning Wine Enthusiast's 2015 Wine Region of the Year award. Prior to the commission, King was vice president of state government relations for the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) and executive director of the Western Labor Coalition. He has served on numerous wine and agriculture industry boards and committees, including the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment, California FFA Foundation and the California Wine Education Foundation. King earned a bachelor's degree in government and a master's degree in public policy and administration from California State University, Sacramento.
"Camron has extensive wine industry experience and he is well prepared to assume the role of NGWI president," said NGWI chair and CAWG President John Aguirre. "We look forward to the strong leadership that Camron will provide to the organization and the industry."
King was interviewed and vetted by a search committee, appointed by Aguirre in January that included Kathleen Nave, California Table Grape Commission; Vicky Scharlau, Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers; Jerry Lohr, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines; John Martini, Anthony Road Wine Company and Nick Dokoozlian, E. & J. Gallo Winery.
"I am honored to have been selected as president and I look forward to working with NGWI's leaders from across the country to ensure the organization's many successes continue and that we achieve even more in the years to come," said King. "NGWI is uniquely positioned as a collaborative organization that working together has great potential for positively impacting all grape growers and producers - table, raisin, juice and wine."
