07/05/2025
The W**e Business Institute (WBI) at Sonoma State University (SSU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Damien Wilson as Faculty Director. Wilson has been a SSU professor of W**e Business for the past 10 years and is the inaugural Hamel Family Chair of W**e Business Education with SSU’s WBI.
Wilson arrived in California in 2015 with 20 years of professional experience in the w**e sector. This commercial experience facilitated him achieving the first-ever Honors Degree in W**e Business with the University of Adelaide, a qualification among his four degrees in the discipline of W**e Business. He joined SSU from Burgundy's School of W**e and Spirits Business, having established a European professorial career after having started with the University of South Australia in 1999.
“We look forward to synergizing Dr Wilson’s experience, knowledge, and passion for the w**e industry with the programs and goals of the W**e Business Institute,” said Dean Elisabeth Wade of the College of Science, Technology and Business.
Wilson will begin his term as Faculty Director of the W**e Business Institute on July 1, 2025. In his debut message in the W**e Business Institute Newsletter, he stated:
“The WBI has a clutch of specialized academics in the field of w**e business, so we're well placed to offer immediate and long-term solutions to the difficulties facing the global w**e business … [and] well positioned to light that pathway for the w**e industry as its center of knowledge and as a primary solution to those certification and qualification needs.”
