Brett Berish is an entrepreneur and the CEO of Sovereign Brands. This includes Luc Belaire sparkling wines, Bumbu rums, McQueen and the Violet Fog gin, as well as the company’s latest creation, Villon, a French spiced liqueur.

Polly Hammond is the founder and CEO of 5forests, a brand communications consultancy firm. She has hosted over 100 podcasts on the subject of wine marketing, including Real Business of Wine with Robert Joseph, Uncorked for the Italian Wine Podcast, and the 2024 YouTube series Headtraining. She sits on the board of the Areni Global think tank and serves as advisor to regional bodies worldwide.

Gary Pryor is a former owner and investor in restaurants, bars, and food manufacturing companies. He’s a senior business consultant at Waters Business Consulting Group, a firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona. He specialises in helping business owners in the restaurant and food service manufacturing industries grow and scale their businesses.

Dr. Jacopo Mazzeo is a freelance wine and drinks journalist and consultant.
He regularly contributes to leading trade and consumer publications including Wine Enthusiast, Whisky Magazine, Decanter, Meininger, Club Oenologique, Harper's, Pix Wine, and Good Beer Hunting. He consults on consumer trends and marketing strategy and offers copywriting services to drinks firms and agencies. Jacopo is a former sommelier, he judges international wine, beer, and spirits competitions, and sat twice on the board of directors of the British Guild of Beer Writers. Before he embraced full-time journalism, he studied musicology at the University of Bologna and took a PhD at the University of Southampton.