There are people in the Wine Industry that don’t own vineyards or make wine, yet their impact on our business is indisputable. They are the people behind our winery associations, our media and our trade and they’re making a difference. “People” was created to acknowledge their role and celebrate their successes.

Writer: Jim Brumm
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Steve Burns is a man who loves what he does for a living. What he does is promote wine and wine regions, perhaps better than anyone. As co-owner of O’Donnell Lane, LLC, in Sonoma, California, Burns has his hands just where he wants them—on the leading edge of the wine industry.

Steve Burns

Burns was born in Germany, the son of an army colonel, and lived all over the world as he grew up. Though his father had hopes of him following in his footsteps, Burns hoped to become a veterinarian. He joined 4-H as a boy and studied animal science at Cal Poly in San Louis Obispo. In college he “realized I wanted to get out and do more.” He switched his major and graduated with a BA in business management.

Laughing, he told me, “My first job was selling bull semen for the Angus Association!” Traveling around the Pacific Northwest, this was the genesis of a long career working with trade associations.

“I learned a lot of lessons doing that job,” he said, “both in working for myself and understanding membership-driven trade associations and how they work.” The Angus Association sent him to Sacramento, California, where through a friend’s contacts he was offered a job on the staff of California’s then governor George Deukmejian.

“I didn’t agree with him on many things, but I liked him,” said Burns. In his work with the governor he learned the ins and outs of politics, a subject he loves. He learned how to organize and how to present issues to people. He learned about bringing large groups of people to consensus, a skill that would serve him well in the future.

After working in politics, Burns was offered two jobs: one with the Prune Board, and one with the Wine Institute of California. He joked as he spoke of this crossroad in his career. “Hmm… I could go with the prunes, or I could go with wine… let me see…”

He took the job with the Wine Institute and never looked back. For eight years he served as their international marketing manager, learning the fine details of doing business overseas, and dealing with cross-cultural sales and marketing. His experience in working with associations helped greatly with his success there.

Later the Washington State Wine Commission recruited Burns to help them build Read More→