GREGORY DE LUCCA, Chairman
Greg is retired from The Coca•Cola Company after 25 years of service in the areas of engineering, marketing, procurement, finance, and general management and has spent 16 years in the wine industry as President of Sterling Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean, Lyeth Vineyards, and the Napa Valley Vintners. Greg served on the Pastoral Council of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for 6 years, and as Chairman of the Council for 3 years while the Cathedral celebrated its 400th anniversary as a congregation in 2010. He is very involved with the prison ministry, Kairos, and serves on the Kairos San Quentin Advisory Council. In his spare time he is a professional artist, painting primarily landscapes and religious images. Also, 5 days a week he organizes tennis matches for a group of elderly Napa Valley players. Greg, and his wife, Susan, are happy to be members of St. Helena Catholic Church.
JERRY M BAKER
Jerry was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. When he was seven, his family moved to southern California, where he attended Catholic school. At twenty one, he was recruited by the E & J Gallo Winery, launching a 40-year career in the wine business, which also included managing large wine distributors as well as national/regional sales and marketing efforts for various wine Brands, including Chateau Montelena, Grgich Hills, and Trefethen Vineyards. Presently Jerry serves as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Ladera Vineyards. He moved to the Napa Valley in 1991. Jerry and his wife, Emily, have a thirteen year old son, John, who attended St. Helena Catholic School. While John was at the Catholic School, Jerry served on a Parent Board and was Co-Chair of the Carnival one year.
JOHN CIPRIANO
Recently retired and new to the Napa Valley, John and his wife, Betsy, are very happy to be members of St. Helena Catholic Church. Previously they attended Holy Spirit Parish, in Berkeley, where John participated on the Parish Council. While on the Parish Council, he was instrumental in getting the Parish evaluated for a 10-year plan on building expenditures. Holy Spirit Parish also served as the Newman Center Church for the students at the University of California. John has a BS Degree in Engineering (Physics) and attained his MBA after beginning his career in Banking. In the Banking business, John developed services for businesses and taught financial management to small business owners.
DAN GAFFEY
Dan is a member of a family that has been attending St. Helena Catholic Church since 1915 when his great grandparents emigrated from Alsace, Lorraine. He currently lives in St. Helena with his wife, Karen, and their two children, Kevin and Katherine, who both attended St. Helena Catholic School. During that time Dan was very active as a volunteer at the school, served as Parent Club President, and worked on various committees. He began his career at Dow Jones and was part of the sales team that launched the interactive Wall Street Journal, the very first online daily paid subscription model. He left the Journal to join his college roommate in launching the first online hyper-resource for craft beer in the U.S. called RealBeer and ProBrewer. They eventually transformed the business into an interactive full-service advertising agency called Real Branding and provided digital marketing services for Fortune 100 CPG brands. After 10 years at Real Branding, they sold the company and Dan and his family retired to the Napa Valley. Dan has spent the last 5 years as the Marketing Manager for Peju Province Winery in Rutherford.
PAT GARVEY
Pat was born in St.Louis, Missouri, moved to Duluth, Minnesota, and relocated to Santa Clara, California. He attended Bellarmine High School, San Jose State, and the University of Santa Clara, where he met his wife Julie Komes. After completing college, Pat spent two years in the Military. In 1979, Pat and Julie, along with Julie’s brother John and the Komes family, started Flora Springs Winery. Two hundred cases of wine slowly grew to 50,000 cases. During this period they expanded their vineyard holdings from 50 acres to 600 acres located within the Napa Valley. Pat and Julie’s son, Sean, works with Pat managing the vineyard operation. Their son Joe started his own business in San Francisco three years ago. Pat served for ten years on the Board of American AgCredit, a member-owned co-operative providing credit-related services to its members. American AgCredit is the fifth largest of 80 Farm Credit Associations in the Nation. During Pat’s tenure on the Board, the Association’s annual net income was $105 million, with 35% returned to shareholders in the form of patronage or dividends.
HENRY GUNDLING
A lifelong resident of the Napa Valley, Henry has enjoyed a long career as a Financial Advisor with UBS/PaineWebber starting in 1980. As an active member of the community, he has also served on numerous non-profit boards through the years, and is currently Vice President of the Gasser Foundation and Chairman of Sustainable Napa County. He and his wife, Mary, live in Saint Helena and are blessed with numerous children and grandchildren.
JIM HUNT
Jim has been retired for 22 years after a 45-year career as a produce broker. He also owned an onion packing and shipping business in Brooks, Oregon. Jim was active in many industry associations, both local and national, and often served as President on many of the Boards of those associations. Jim was a Boy Scout and, as an adult, served for many years as a Scoutmaster and Council President. Jim and his wife, Betty, moved to the Napa Valley in the mid-1980’s, and he has served on the Parish Finance Council, at St. Helena Catholic Church, for over 25 years.
ERNESTO MARTINEZ
Ernesto arrived in America at the age of 16 after leaving his home in Mexico City. Shortly after his arrival, he obtained a job as a dishwasher at Brava Terrace Restaurant in St. Helena. That is when he developed his dream to become a chef… he noted that chefs leave work at 9:00 PM and, as dishwasher, Ernesto was the last one to leave at 5:00 AM. Around that time, he ran into a childhood friend, Ramon Flores, whose sister Xochitl had come to stay with her brother. Ernesto and Xochitl began dating, fell in love, and married in 1997. They have three sons – Allen who is 16, Daniel who is 11, and Julian who is 9. Ernesto continued his career in the restaurant arena steadily progressing, observing, learning, and working his way up through various positions until he became a chef. It’s been six years since Chef Ernesto Martinez and his brother-in-law Ramon Flores became the owners of Market restaurant in St. Helena; and, Ernesto still beams with pride when the door opens for lunch and people, many greeting him by name, begin to fill his cozy and elegant Main Street bistro. Ernesto also serves as a Eucharistic Minister at St. Helena Catholic Church.
NORA O’NEILL
Nora has recently retired from a life-long career as a secretary, executive assistant, and office manager for a number of companies, in a variety of industries. She began her career with The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway and ended it last June as the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools at St. Helena Unified School District. Her duties in these positions included preparing, analyzing, and managing budgets; handling accounts payable and receivable; maintaining payroll records; and coordinating office communications and public relations. Nora has an AA Degree in Business from Solano Community College and a BS Degree in Economics from the University of San Francisco. In addition to serving on the Parish Finance Council, Nora is also a member of the Respect Life Ministry at St. Helena Catholic Church.
EARLE PRESTEN
Earle and his wife, Valerie, have been residents of St. Helena since 1972. When they moved here, Earle was still active as a pilot for United Airlines. He retired in 1994 as a co-pilot on the DC-10 after 34 years with the company. For 19 years Earle was an active member of the St. Helena Volunteer Fire Department and also served as its Secretary/Treasurer. His religious life began before he and Valerie were married when he started to attend Mass with her (Valerie is a lifelong Catholic). He attended classes with Father John Brenkle and became a member of the Catholic Faith. Earle has been a member of the Finance Committee for several years and considers it an honor.