The Head of Krause Family Wine, based in Milan, Italy, is the senior executive responsible for the strategy, performance and long-term value creation of Krause Group’s global wine and wine-related hospitality portfolio. Reporting to the President & Chief Operating Officer, this leader has overall accountability for portfolio P&L;, profitable growth, brand stewardship, operational performance, organizational effectiveness and strategic expansion.

The Head of Krause Family Wine will lead an integrated portfolio of distinctive wine businesses while preserving the authenticity, heritage and individual identity of each brand. The role requires a commercially driven, globally experienced executive who combines luxury brand sensibility with strong financial and operating discipline.

Working closely with winery leadership, winemakers, enterprise functions and ownership, the Head of Krause Family Wine will set portfolio strategy, establish performance expectations, allocate resources and capital, develop leadership talent, and identify opportunities for organic growth, acquisitions, hospitality expansion and international development.

Portfolio Strategy & Leadership

- Set and lead the overall strategy, priorities, and long-term vision for Krause Family Wine.
- Own the development and execution of multi-year business plans aligned with Krause Group’s enterprise strategy and financial objectives.
- Establish clear performance expectations across the portfolio and hold business leaders accountable for revenue, profitability, cash flow, brand health, and operational performance.
- Determine portfolio priorities and resource allocation across wineries, vineyards, hospitality, commercial operations, and distribution.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen, expand, or optimize the portfolio through organic growth, partnerships, acquisitions, integrations, and other strategic investments.
- Serve as the senior executive accountable for the overall performance and enterprise alignment of Krause Family Wine.

Commercial Growth & Market Development

- Develop and execute global commercial strategies that accelerate profitable growth across wholesale, export, direct-to-consumer, hospitality, and experiential channels.
- Strengthen market positioning and distribution across priority domestic and international markets.
- Build and maintain strategic relationships with distributors, importers, key customers, hospitality partners, and industry stakeholders.
- Identify new revenue opportunities through market expansion, brand extensions, partnerships, wine tourism, events, and consumer experiences.
- Ensure commercial strategies appropriately balance revenue growth, pricing discipline, brand positioning, and long-term brand equity.
- Establish and monitor clear commercial KPIs, including revenue growth, margin, distribution, customer acquisition, DTC performance, visitation, and brand health.

Brand Stewardship & Consumer Experience

- Protect and enhance the distinctive heritage, positioning, reputation, and long-term equity of each portfolio brand.
- Ensure each winery maintains a clear and differentiated brand identity while benefiting from the scale and capabilities of the broader Krause Family Wine platform.
- Champion premium and luxury brand standards across wine, hospitality, storytelling, communications, and consumer engagement.
- Oversee the development of differentiated hospitality and guest experiences that increase brand affinity, visitation, loyalty, and direct-to-consumer conversion.
- Partner with marketing and communications leadership on brand strategy, digital engagement, experiential activations, public relations, and global campaigns.
- Ensure brand and consumer strategies reflect Krause Group’s purpose, values, and commitment to its communities.

Winery & Operational Performance

- Provide executive oversight of winery and hospitality operations across the portfolio, ensuring quality, efficiency, consistency, and strong financial performance.
- Work closely with winery leaders, winemakers, vineyard teams, and operational leadership to align production planning with commercial strategy and market demand.




- Ensure appropriate discipline around inventory, production, supply chain, logistics, procurement, and working capital.
- Drive continuous improvement while protecting wine quality, craftsmanship, authenticity, and brand standards.
- Identify opportunities to leverage shared capabilities and create efficiencies across the portfolio without unnecessarily homogenizing individual businesses or brands.
- Ensure the portfolio has the systems, processes, talent, and organizational structure required to scale effectively.

Brand, Hospitality & Consumer Experience

- Own consolidated portfolio P&L; performance, budgeting, forecasting, and long-range financial planning.
- Establish financial targets and ensure portfolio businesses deliver against revenue, EBITDA, cash flow, and return expectations.
- Drive disciplined cost management and operating leverage while protecting the investments required to sustain long-term brand value.
- Evaluate capital requirements and recommend the allocation of capital across vineyards, production, hospitality, commercial growth, technology, and other strategic initiatives.
- Partner with enterprise Finance and Growth & Investments on investment analysis, business cases, acquisitions, integrations, and portfolio optimization.
- Use data, analytics, dashboards, and performance reviews to identify opportunities, risks, and corrective actions.

M&A;, Expansion & Strategic Development

- Identify and evaluate potential acquisitions, partnerships, new markets, hospitality opportunities, vineyard investments, and adjacent growth opportunities.
- Lead the wine organization’s role in acquisition diligence, business planning, integration, and post-acquisition value creation.
- Ensure new investments strengthen the strategic position, financial performance, and long-term value of the portfolio.
- Develop scalable approaches for integrating new businesses while respecting the history, culture, people, and identity of acquired brands.

People & Organizational Leadership

- Build, lead, and develop a high-performing international leadership team across winery operations, commercial functions, hospitality, and supporting disciplines.
- Establish clear accountability, decision rights, objectives, and operating rhythms across the portfolio.
- Develop strong business leaders and succession pipelines throughout Krause Family Wine.
- Partner with Krause Group Grow People on organizational design, talent strategy, leadership development, succession planning, and workforce planning.
- Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, agility, inclusion, innovation, and continuous improvement.
- Lead effectively across cultures, geographies, functions, and a matrixed enterprise environment.
- Create an environment in which strong creative, commercial, technical, and operational leaders can succeed.

Governance & Stakeholder Management

- Serve as the principal executive representative of Krause Family Wine with Krause Group leadership, ownership, boards, industry partners, and other key stakeholders.
- Review portfolio performance, business plans, risks, opportunities, and strategic priorities regularly with the Krause Group CEO, President & COO, and Senior Leadership Team.
- Ensure appropriate governance, controls, compliance, and risk management across the portfolio.
- Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory, labor, safety, environmental, licensing, and international trade requirements.
- Represent Krause Family Wine externally when appropriate with customers, industry organizations, communities, and strategic partners.

Experience & Qualifications

- 15+ years of progressive leadership experience within wine, beverage, luxury hospitality, premium consumer goods, or a related industry.




- Significant executive leadership experience with responsibility for business performance and P&L.;
- Proven success leading multi-site, international, or global businesses.
- Demonstrated ability to drive profitable revenue growth and improve business performance.
- Experience leading premium or luxury consumer brands with an understanding of the importance of brand equity and long-term stewardship.
- Strong understanding of wine industry economics, winery operations, distribution, hospitality, and international market dynamics.
- General understanding of viticulture and oenology sufficient to effectively lead and support technical experts; formal winemaking training is not required.
- Experience with acquisitions, integrations, business transformation, or portfolio expansion strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated effectiveness operating within a founder-led, entrepreneurial, or family-owned organization strongly preferred.
- Experience operating across both European and U.S. business environments strongly preferred.
- Be based in or willing to relocate to Milan, Italy.
- Fluent English and Italian required; French and/or Portuguese is desirable.
- Ability to travel internationally up to 40% of the time.

Leadership Capabilities

- The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Enterprise leadership and sound business judgment
- Strong commercial and financial acumen
- Strategic thinking combined with disciplined execution
- Luxury and premium brand stewardship
- Operational rigor and performance orientation
- Global and cross-cultural leadership
- Strong people leadership and talent development
- Organizational design and change leadership
- High emotional intelligence and relationship management
- Effective decision-making in complex and ambiguous environments
- Comfort operating in an entrepreneurial and founder-led environment
- Data-driven decision-making
- Intellectual curiosity and growth mindset
- Ability to balance respect for heritage with the ambition to innovate and grow

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position has significant leadership and supervisory responsibilities and:

- Sets the strategic direction and performance expectations for Krause Family Wine and its leadership teams.
- Leads the coordination and performance of businesses and functions across the portfolio.
- Selects, develops, evaluates, and retains senior leadership talent.
- Ensures appropriate succession planning and leadership development across the organization.
- Provides coaching, feedback, and formal performance management for direct reports.

Level of Supervision Received

- This position operates with a high degree of autonomy based on broad strategic direction from the President & Chief Operating Officer and Krause Group leadership.

Duties and responsibilities may be added, removed, or modified based on business needs. Scheduling, assignments, and work location may also change as required by business necessity.

Krause Group believes in People First. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer building a culture of equity and inclusion.

Krause Group Purpose

- Our purpose is to enhance the way people experience the world.

Krause Group Mission

- Our mission is to nurture our family of brands, creating opportunities to do good in the world.

Krause Group Values

- Agility — We challenge the status quo with open minds, flexibility, and speed. We are comfortable being uncomfortable. We view change as opportunity.
- Courage — We take risks. We innovate. We win or learn. We push limits, disrupt norms, and define our own path.
- Growth Mindset — We are building an organization and legacy that will outlive us. We are continuously learning. There is no final destination, only the journey to be better than we were yesterday.
- Inclusion — We actively seek and welcome alternative points of view. Diverse perspectives improve decision-making and make us all more successful.
- Integrity — We do the right thing, even when it is difficult. We do not take shortcuts and always take accountability.
- Community Focused — We are committed to positively impacting our communities, stakeholders, and associates. We do good and encourage others to join us.

📌 Head of Krause Family Wine (Milano)
🏢 Krause Group
📍 Milano