O’NEILL VINTNERS & DISTILLERS ANNOUNCES DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP TEAM

Strate­gic Exec­u­tive Appoint­ments to Accel­er­ate Growth, Inno­va­tion, and Impact

LARK­SPUR, Calif., July 17, 2025 — O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers, a Cer­ti­fied B Cor­po­ra­tion and Regen­er­a­tive Organ­ic Cer­ti­fied® wine com­pa­ny, today announced a series of key lead­er­ship pro­mo­tions designed to fuel its con­tin­ued momen­tum as one of the industry’s fastest-grow­ing and most mis­sion-dri­ven orga­ni­za­tions. These strate­gic appoint­ments sig­nal a new era of inno­va­tion, agili­ty, and growth, posi­tion­ing O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers to deep­en con­sumer con­nec­tion and lead trans­for­ma­tive change in wine.

“I’m thrilled to share these lead­er­ship updates, which reflect the depth of tal­ent with­in our orga­ni­za­tion and the clar­i­ty of our long-term vision,” said Jeff O’Neill, Founder & CEO. ​“This expand­ed team brings the ener­gy, exper­tise, and fore­sight we need to scale our impact, build last­ing brand equi­ty, and keep O’Neill at the fore­front of indus­try innovation.”

EXEC­U­TIVE LEAD­ER­SHIP APPOINTMENTS

Maeve Pes­quera has been pro­mot­ed to Chief Mar­ket­ing Offi­cer and EVP, Luxury.

Pesquera’s bold, brand-dri­ven lead­er­ship has been piv­otal in build­ing O’Neill’s lux­u­ry port­fo­lio and sharp­en­ing its con­sumer focus. As CMO, she will now over­see enter­prise-wide mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy, cham­pi­oning inte­grat­ed cam­paigns that fuel engage­ment, ele­vate brand sto­ry­telling, and deliv­er mea­sur­able busi­ness impact. Her vision­ary approach con­tin­ues to rede­fine how wine brands con­nect with con­sumers in a rapid­ly evolv­ing marketplace.

Breck O’Neill has been named Exec­u­tive Vice Pres­i­dent, Busi­ness Development.

In this new­ly cre­at­ed role, Breck O’Neill will lead high-impact growth ini­tia­tives that expand O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers’ foot­print and dri­ve long-term enter­prise val­ue. His focus will include strate­gic part­ner­ships, new mar­ket oppor­tu­ni­ties, and inno­va­tion that future-proofs the busi­ness. With deep cross-func­tion­al expe­ri­ence and a sharp strate­gic lens, Breck O’Neill will play a piv­otal role in scal­ing O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers pres­ence while advanc­ing its mis­sion and accel­er­at­ing performance.

Paul Pas­saro has been appoint­ed Senior Vice Pres­i­dent, Sales.

Pas­saro brings a proven abil­i­ty to lead high-per­form­ing teams and deliv­er com­mer­cial excel­lence across com­plex, fast-mov­ing mar­kets. He will over­see O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers’ nation­al sales orga­ni­za­tion, with a focus on build­ing col­lab­o­ra­tive cus­tomer rela­tion­ships, dri­ving exe­cu­tion­al excel­lence, and max­i­miz­ing brand per­for­mance across all chan­nels. With a sharp focus on results and col­lab­o­ra­tion, Pas­saro will align sales efforts with brand pri­or­i­ties, strength­en­ing per­for­mance, deep­en­ing mar­ket reach, and deliv­er­ing sus­tain­able growth.

Ron Mertz as Senior Vice Pres­i­dent, Com­mer­cial Strategy.

Mertz is an accom­plished leader dri­ving O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers’ sales strat­e­gy with a sharp focus on long-term val­ue cre­ation and mar­ket lead­er­ship. He will lead dis­trib­u­tor part­ner­ships, strate­gic accounts span­ning On- and Off-Premise chan­nels, exclu­sive and pri­vate label col­lab­o­ra­tions, and export. Mertz’s exper­tise ensures com­mer­cial plans are pre­cise­ly aligned with evolv­ing cus­tomer needs and busi­ness objec­tives. Togeth­er with Breck O’Neill and Paul Pas­saro, Mertz will help lead a more agile, rela­tion­ship and data-dri­ven sales engine that deliv­ers sus­tained growth and excep­tion­al mar­ket­place performance.

With this dynam­ic lead­er­ship team in place, O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers is poised to enter its next phase of growth — bold­ly reshap­ing the role wine can play in busi­ness, cul­ture, and envi­ron­men­tal change.

For more than two decades, O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers has cham­pi­oned sus­tain­abil­i­ty through trans­paren­cy, per­for­mance, and action. Today’s announce­ment reflects the company’s unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to build­ing a regen­er­a­tive future, pow­ered by pas­sion­ate peo­ple and world-class wines.