Executive Team
The management and care of your wine collection requires individuals with commitment. Vintrust has put together an executive team comprised of members with diverse backgrounds in technology, asset management, logistics, wine buying, collecting and storage. Our team has extensive experience working at the upper echelon of the wine industry. They have a shared passion and respect for wine and those who make it, sell it and collect it.
Barry Waitte
Chief Executive Officer
Barry Waitte, of San Francisco and Yountville, California, was named CEO of Vintrust in 2007 after serving as a Vintrust Board member for 2½ years. (He continues to serve on the Vintrust Board). Waitte is a former AOL and Apple Computer executive who went on to help fund and chair the enterprise software company FrontBridge Technologies, which was later acquired by Microsoft. Waitte has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with senior manager roles at AOL, Medior and Apple Computer. Waitte co-founded the Waitte Foundation and sits on the boards of private companies Structural Integrity Associates and Thinkwave Technologies. He is the Managing Partner of Waitte Ventures, an angel venture firm focused on Internet infrastructure and enterprise companies.
A native Northern Californian, Waitte developed his love of the wine country during visits to Napa Valley as a child with his parents, and he always dreamed of having a vineyard and making wine. He owns Tamber Bey Vineyards, a boutique Napa Valley winery he founded in 1999.
Ozzie Ayscue
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Ozzie Ayscue is responsible for all financial and administrative operations for Vintrust. He has extensive experience as an executive with proven skills in business growth and development. He joined Vintrust from SysIQ, a web development and managed services provider, where he had been President since 2003. Ayscue was also the Co-Founder, CEO and CFO for Celebration Fantastic. Earlier in his career he was a Financial Analyst with Morgan Stanley in New York. Ozzie holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of North Carolina and an M.B.A. in Finance from Stanford University. He resides in Ross, California.
Jason Alexander
Vice President, Wine Acquisitions
Jason Alexander, of San Francisco, joined Vintrust as Vice President of Wine Acquisitions in 2007. He oversees all aspects of sourcing and buying fine and rare wines for Vintrust's collectors and retail wine program, which encompasses auctions, winery direct, consignments, futures and traditional distribution networks.
Alexander joined Vintrust after many years as Sommelier and Wine Director at Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco and Michelin two-star Cyrus Restaurant in Healdsburg, California. He brings to Vintrust a decade of experience working with fine and rare wine and a passion for seeking out cutting-edge producers in California and beyond. Alexander has traveled extensively in the wine regions of the U.S., Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria and New Zealand to taste, purchase and study wine. Having passed the first two stages of the grueling Court of Master Sommeliers examination process, Alexander is now a candidate for admission as a Master Sommelier.
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Steve Gant
Vice President, Winery Services
Steve Gant is the business unit manager for Vintrust’s Winery Services division. He is responsible for all aspects of servicing Vintrust’s winery clients, including warehousing, logistics and direct-to-consumer fulfillment. For more than 19 years prior to joining the Vintrust executive team, Gant managed logistics for some of Northern California's most prestigious wineries. Gant founded Consumer Direct Solutions, which he sold in 2003 to Wine Tasting Network after five years in operation. Prior to that, Gant spent four years at Bighorn Cellars as a Marketing Assistant and five years at Christian Brothers Winery as Warehouse Manager and Assistant Retail Manager. Steve grew up in Napa Valley, where he currently resides.
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Nick Warhol
Vice President, Technology
Nick Warhol is responsible for all technology initiatives at Vintrust, including VinSys, the Wine Asset Management and customer portal platform; the Web and e-commerce environments; and information technology infrastructure and business systems.
Warhol has more than 20 years of experience in the information technology field for both startup companies and large, multinational corporations. Prior to joining Vintrust, Warhol was the Director of Information Technology for Ellie Mae, the premier provider of loan origination software and services for the mortgage industry. Nick has also served as a technology executive at Dantz Development (acquired by EMC), Moai Technologies, KLA-Tencor and several other companies in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. He lives in Hayward, California.
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Vintrust Board of Directors
When Vintrust founders André de Baubigny and Timothy Komada formed Vintrust, they carefully sought out Directors who would make the vision of Vintrust an absolute success. They established a board of directors comprised of the best talent in the areas of wine collecting, wine management, technology, real estate, luxury brands, marketing, finance and good, old-fashioned entrepreneurial business sense.
André de Baubigny
Chairman of the Board and Founder
Prior to co-founding Vintrust in 2003, André de Baubigny worked in the technology industry, where he helped create and grow some of the most successful Internet companies in the U.S.
After practicing law as a securities and real estate attorney, de Baubigny became an investment banker at Robertson Stephens & Co. in 1995. There, he pioneered Internet banking when he founded and managed the Internet Practice Group. In 1998, André joined Morgan Stanley & Co. to run its Internet banking practice. During his career as an Internet banker, de Baubigny advised new and large companies, including Amazon.com, eBay, Priceline, Ask Jeeves, Real Networks, VeriSign, AOL/Time Warner, Viacom, The Gap and American Airlines, among others. In 1999, de Baubigny left Morgan Stanley to run the U.S. division of the $500 million U.S. technology private equity arm of Groupe Arnault, reporting directly to Bernard Arnault, the Chairman of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. He returned to the West Coast in 2000 to pursue an entrepreneurial career.
De Baubigny holds an MBA from Stanford University, a JD from Boston University School of Law and a BA in Economics from Trinity College in Connecticut. He resides in Menlo Park.
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Timothy Komada
Director and Co-Founder
As Vintrust’s founder and first Vice President of Corporate Development and Operations, Timothy Komada focused his time on guiding the company's operational, strategic and financial initiatives. Prior to co-founding Vintrust, Komada spent several years working with technology companies and investment and advisory firms in transactional capacities on both the principal and agency side. He was director of acquisitions and restructuring at Odyssey Telecorp, a Palo Alto-based firm that focuses on buyouts and restructurings of technology and telecommunications companies. Prior to Odyssey Telecorp, Komada was manager of corporate development at Exodus, a Cable & Wireless Service (formerly Exodus Communications, Inc.), where he was instrumental in both the acquisition and integration of Exodus Communications by Cable & Wireless plc. Komada began his career as a management consultant at Price Waterhouse and PwC Consulting (now IBM Business Consulting Services). At PwC Consulting, Tim managed e-business strategy and financial services projects for PwC clients in the Washington, D.C. area.
Komada is currently pursuing his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He also holds a master’s degree in Public Policy and a JD from William and Mary, along with B.S. and B.A. degrees in Biology and English from the Citadel. Komada resides in San Francisco.
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Aubrey McClendon
Director
Aubrey McClendon has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Chesapeake Energy, the largest independent producer and third-largest overall producer of natural gas in the United States, which he co-founded in 1989. Prior to 1989, McClendon was an independent producer of oil and gas. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Domestic Petroleum Council. An avid wine collector, McClendon has amassed what is believed to be among the world’s largest collections of large-format rare wines. He is also co-owner of Château Clos Dubreuil in Saint Emilion, Bordeaux. McClendon graduated from Duke University in 1981 and currently resides in Oklahoma City.
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Roger Walther
Director
Roger Walther has a broad and successful career as an entrepreneur and executive in real estate, banking, international education and publishing. In 1964, he founded AIFS, Inc., an operator of academic and cultural programs throughout the world. Later, Walther co-founded both the San Francisco Bancorp in 1980 and First Republic Bank in 1985. Today, he is the Chairman of First Republic Bank.
In 1968, Walther founded Tusker Corporation to acquire and develop a commercial real estate portfolio with properties in Connecticut, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Among other professional activities, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Charles Schwab Corporation.
Walther and his wife Anne grow Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in Napa Valley and sell their fruit to Don Stephens for the D.R. Stephens label, Walther River Block Cabernet Sauvignon. The Walthers are also owners of KVON-KVYN Radio in Napa.
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Barry Waitte
Director and CEO (see above)
Joe Wender
Director
Joe Wender has been with Goldman Sachs & Co. for more than 35 years, and he is currently a Senior Consultant, based in Los Angeles. He ran the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman for more than 15 years and was involved in some of the largest bank mergers during the 1980s and ’90s. Currently, Joe is a Managing Director at Greenwich Street Capital, an alternative investment firm founded in 1994. He is chairman of the GSC Finance Committee and heads its Los Angeles office. Wender sits on many corporate and nonprofit boards, including First Coastal Bancshares, Affinity Financial and Copia.
Joe and his wife Ann Colgin own Colgin Cellars and produce their famed wine. He also heads a group that owns Camille Giroud, a Burgundy negociant.
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