Executive Leadership Team

Seth Kaufman was appointed President and CEO of Vintage Wine Estates effective October 30, 2023.  For the last four years, Mr. Kaufman has been President and CEO of Moët Hennessy North America, which is a wine and spirits business of LVMH. In his role at LVMH - Moët Hennessy North America, in addition to delivering strong growth, Mr. Kaufman drove margin expansion, championed disruptive, yet compliant business changes to drive outperformance, re-imagined its operating model, initiated leading eBusiness strategies and championed a step-change approach to talent management.  Prior to LVMH, Mr. Kaufman progressively advanced through several roles over a nearly 20-year career at PepsiCo, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEP).  His roles included among others, Senior Vice President, Pepsi Trademark & Flavors and Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo North America Beverages, where he was honored with the recognition by Business Insider as being ranked fifteen among the “Top 50 Most Innovative CMOs in the World.”  He culminated his career at PepsiCo as President, PepsiCo North America Nutrition & The Hive Emerging Brand Unit.  He began his career in the advertising sales business as Regional Market Director for a division of Interep Radio in New York City.  Mr. Kaufman earned his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business and his B.S. in Television, Radio & Film Management from the Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Kristina Johnston, Chief Financial Officer of Vintage Wine Estates, oversees Finance and Accounting for VWE. Prior to joining VWE in 2022, Kristina spent 17 years at Constellation Brands, Inc., where she held various leadership roles focused on public company reporting requirements, finance processes, budgeting and forecasting. Kristina’s knowledge of public company finance and accounting, paired with her career in the beverage industry, allows her to successfully support VWE’s planned financial growth.

Zach Long, Chief Operations Officer, has over 20 years in winemaking, most recently as Senior Vice President Winemaking and Production at Vintage Wine Estates. He officially joined VWE through the 2021 Kunde acquisition where he served as Director of Winemaking for 11 years. Previously, Zach was Winemaker at Girard Winery. In addition to his wealth of industry insight gained working closely with VWE affiliated wineries, growers and vendors, Zach holds degrees in viticulture and enology from the University of California Davis (UC Davis) and a certification in viticulture from the University of Purpan in Toulouse, France and has worked vintages all over the winemaking world. Zach’s focus is terroir-driven quality, sustainability in VWE vineyards and wineries and enhancing synergies within VWE’s production capabilities. Zach leads all VWE Operations which includes Winemaking, Production, Warehouse, IT, Supply Chain and Purchasing.