This weekly seminar series invites influential and disruptive entrepreneurially- minded leaders to share their personal experiences founding, financing and managing an emerging business venture. This event is FREE and open to the public as space permits.

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Mike O’Connell is the founder and President of The Woodmar Group, a California based winery. The Woodmar Group started in 2004 in Napa, California with the focus of using Napa Valley winemaking skills to produce wines that retail in the $10 – $15 price point. The brands include Grayson Cellars, Block Nine, Five Rows, Freelander, Ghostrunner and Hanging Vine and are sold into 50 states and 25 countries. Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate gave Grayson wines Best Buy ratings for eleven consecutive releases. The company is run by Mike and his wife and is one of the larger family owned wineries in the United States. The company is named in tribute to Woodmar Country Club, a now defunct golf course in Mike’s native Indiana where he spent countless hours learning life’s lessons playing golf. Prior to founding The Woodmar Group, Mike ran legendary Indy car driver Mario Andretti’s winery, Andretti Winery, in Napa California where he grew sales 100% in three years. The turn-around plan included renegotiating contracts, reducing the product line, improving product quality, redesigning packaging and building a national sales force.