What made you decide to choose UVM?

I went to a small Southern boarding school that was very conservative. Most of the students at Woodberry Forest School go onto Ivy League schools, to University of Virginia or University of North Carolina. I wanted something different. I love the mountains, the scenery. I thought it was a good school and an opportunity to take myself out of the friendly confines of Southern society and experience something new.

How did your UVM experience influence your direction in life?

It had a great deal of influence on my life. I was a Spanish and Economics double-major, and I also studied abroad twice in both Chile and Argentina, which was an invaluable experience that did not prevent me from finishing in four years. My senior seminar economics paper was about the growth of Chilean and Argentine wine exports and the impacts of globalization, foreign-direct investment and regional trade agreements on their wine industry. These studies sparked my interest in wine and led me to pursue a career in the industry.

What is your current job title and who is your employer?

I am President of Manhattan Wine Company, a new wine storage company that I started in 2005. We aim to provide superlative services to wine collectors, restaurants, and others in the New York area.  Our clients are passionate about wine, but lack the room for their collection. We launched MWC to offer state-of-the-art professional wine storage, including temperature and humidity control, as well as our online, wine-collecting management system, The Virtual Private Cellar (“VPC”). The VPC is designed to be a centralized, web-based cellar inventory management system, including acquisition and divestiture advice, recognized critics’ ratings, pricing information and other analytical online tools to help members optimize their collecting experience. MWC caters to private collectors as well as tasting groups, restaurants, retailers, auction houses, importers/wholesalers and wineries.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

Working with people. Seeing and building something from start to finish. Everyday I do something different. As an entrepreneur, I've had to learn every aspect of my business, learning something new every day. The challenge of building something from the ground up is both rewarding and humbling at the same time.  I'm definitely motivated by the challenge.

Who positively influenced you while at UVM?

I had a number of amazing professors throughout my four years from both the Economics and Spanish departments.  From the Spanish department, Profs. Catherine Connor, Juan Maura, Tim Murad and my advisor, Gayle Nunley were fantastic teachers and individuals.  They cared about me and made me a better student and person.  From Economics, Profs. Abu Rizvi, Abbas Alnasrawi, and Stephanie Seguino were three of the most interesting, brilliant, and dedicated academics that I have had the good fortune to learn from and befriend.  Many of my professors had a significant impact on my education and character. I also can’t forget to mention Prof. Caroline Beer from the Political Science Department.  She knows more about Latin American politics than anyone I have ever met, and she is an extremely talented teacher who always kept the classes interesting.  UVM professors were interested in me; they cared about my future and cared that I was successful. When I wasn’t performing in the classroom, they let me know it and didn’t allow me to make excuses for myself.  I thank them for being a part of UVM and my life, and for putting up with my insistence on doing it “my way.”

What are your passions in life?

Wine, golf, traveling, foreign languages, culture, food, politics.

What makes Vermont a special place to you?

It’s Vermont. There’s no other place like it. It has its own culture in and of itself. The friends I made, beyond UVM— they’re great people that I will be friends with for a long, long time.

Tell us something that visitors to the UVM website would find interesting about you.

At UVM, I was surrounded by people/friends/professors who encouraged and supported me, and it was really important for me to surround myself with these positive influences.  In business, it is the same.  You will need to work hard, network, and treat people the right way.  Most importantly, be honest, and don’t be afraid to ask for something you are looking for.  The thing you always hear about startups is that 99% of them fail. As an entrepreneur, you can't let other people, especially older, (supposedly) wiser people discourage you from pursuing your dreams.  Of all the things that I learned at UVM, one of the most important lessons was to learn to network and get along with people who you do not know or may not like.  In life and business, charisma and character will often times be the defining attributes that get you what you want.  Follow your passions, and everything else will fall in place.

Anything else you would like people to know?

If you are ever in the NYC area, please look me up.  I am always interested to meet people from UVM and would love to do whatever I can to help the UVM community.  My contact information is available on the UVM alumni network, so please call or email if you need advice, job, or anything to do with wine.  For more information about my company and its activities, visit my website at www.mwcwine.com.