John Sutton is Chief Executive Officer of The Wine Group (“TWG”) and has served as a director of TWG since 2013. TWG is a California-based, private, management-owned wine company. With annual sales of approximately $1 billion and annual shipments of over 50 million cases worldwide, TWG is the second largest wine producer by volume in the United States and the third largest wine producer by volume in the world. 

TWG’s portfolio of brands includes Franzia, the world’s largest wine brand for over twenty years, Cupcake, Benziger, Concannon, Chloe, Tribute and Imagery. TWG has over 1,200 employees in the United States and Australia. TWG has grown from less than a 5% share of the table wine market in 1981 to approximately 13% today through organic growth and a series of strategic brand, winery and vineyard acquisitions. In addition to its branded portfolio, TWG is the United States’ largest bulk wine exporter and a leading producer of private-label wine brands for many of the largest retailers. 

Mr. Sutton joined TWG in 2007 as General Counsel, became Chief Financial Officer in 2015 and was named Chief Executive Officer in 2022. Prior to being named Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sutton directly supervised or was responsible for the finance, legal, information technology and business process improvement functions, and had shared responsibility for supervising all Human Resources-related matters. In addition, Mr. Sutton oversaw the management of TWG’s three winery hospitality businesses located in Glen Ellen and Livermore, California. Mr. Sutton worked closely with the former Chief Executive Officer in developing short- and long-term business goals and strategies to position TWG for growth in the face of competitive and industry changes. Mr. Sutton has been involved in almost all significant acquisitions made by, and divestitures of, TWG since 2002. 

Prior to joining TWG, Mr. Sutton worked as an attorney at Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin (now known as Arnold & Porter), where he served as outside counsel to TWG. Mr. Sutton also worked as an attorney at K&L Gates, in San Francisco. While in private practice, he advised start-up and mature companies in connection with venture capital financings, private and public equity and debt securities offerings, merger and acquisition transactions, commercial credit and finance transactions, and secured transactions. 

From 1994-1997, Mr. Sutton worked in the White House under President Clinton, serving first as Special Assistant to the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and then as Special Assistant to the Counselor to the President. 

Mr. Sutton graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 with B.A. degree in Political Science. He earned a JD/MBA degree from the University of San Francisco in 2000, and was a licensed Certified Public Accountant (non-active) in the State of California. 

Mr. Sutton is past Chairman of the Board of Wine Institute, the industry’s leading trade association that represents over 1,000 California wineries. He has also served as the Chairman of the Livermore Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of a private craft brewer that owns the Ballast Point brand and several breweries and taprooms. Mr. Sutton is also a member of Rabobank’s North American Advisory Board. Mr. Sutton is also a director of a privately held ready-to-drink cocktails and spirits producer that owns the industry leading Rancho La Gloria brand.