Mrs Wendy Petersen has been appointed at the helm of the Operations for The SA Wine Industry Transformation Unit NPC in February 2019. Since joining the organisation, she has been instrumental in ensuring that black owned enterprises and farms receives the relevant small business development, mentoring support, funding, marketing, promotional and technical support to ensure that their businesses are sustainable.

She holds 30 years’ experience in the South African Wine Industry and have wealth of knowledge on various levels of primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the wine value chain. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing with specialisation in Strategy management and she is currently finalising her studies towards her Honours degree in Marketing and Strategy Management.

Wendy holds various other qualifications in the field of Project management, Product and Packaging development including Leadership.

Wendy was responsible for Innovation and Product Development, both packaging and product, for multinational organisations to the likes of Distell, KWV and DGB.

Her knowledge stretch widely over various product ranges which includes wine, ready to drinks, ciders, spirits, and cream liquors.

She has been instrumental in the product development of award winning South African brands such as Savanna, Hunters, Amarula, Strawberry Lips, Esprit, Bernini, KWV, Vawter, Boschendal, Douglas Green, Bellingham to mention a few.

She is a determined futuristic leader, with her prevalent strengths being her ability to be resilient, find solutions and embrace change.

Her passion for the wine industry is deeply rooted in the appreciation, commitment, and dedication of each person’s role in the entire wine value chain.