Dr. Clinton Lee – BAcc (HONS). MBA.DBA. APWASI Certified Global Wine and Spirit Professional

Executive Director of APWASI

Dr. Clinton Lee has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, an MBA in Finance and a Doctorate in Business Administration. He has attained the Wine Spirit and Education Diploma and Certified International Educator from London, UK. Dr. Lee has also attained the Certified Specialist of Wine, Certified Specialist of Spirits designation and the French Wine Scholar (USA). He is a Certified Sherry Educator awarded by the Consejo De Regulador (Spain) and is a wine judge with the Hong Kong International Wine Judge Association.

He has been a lecturer at the University of Simon Fraser teaching and developing the wine program there for the last five years. Dr. Lee has been hosted by the Wine Institute of Germany, Italian Vinitaly and the Spanish and Chinese governments. He has presented at the OIV 9th World Symposium on Viticulture and Oenology in China. Dr Lee is a Sake professional under the auspices of the Japanese Sake Education Council and has trained as a Whisky Ambassador in Scotland. Dr. Lee has taught WSET courses, close to a decade. He is an international wine lecturer, writer and critic, international Wine Judge and given wine lectures globally and wine courses in Canada, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Argentina, France, Hungary Portugal, Italy and the US.

Dr. Lee believed at an early stage, after intense and detailed research that online education would increase in the coming years. Additionally, wine courses should be inclusive of more cultural awareness, inclusiveness and diversity. In 2015 the concept of APWASI was ignited to deliver online wine and spirit courses. Read more about APWASI’s story. 

Operations

Head of Operations – Carmen Lee

Carmen has extensive experience in Operations and Marketing, developing digital marketing strategies to enhance business’ brands and products worldwide. She has international supply chain and business management experience building customer relations on a global scale. She is also on a leadership team bringing one of Vancouver’s largest senior care homes to completion.

Josie Lam

Head of Finance – Josie Lam

Josie has many years of experience in accounting, administration and insurance planning. Her skills are invaluable and are extremely valuable for the institute.

Head of IT and Support  – Paul Drummond

With over 20 years of experience in IT, Paul has a background in both developing and managing corporate websites, and brings significant experience with WordPress, HTML5, CSS3, Perl, PHP, JavaScript, and jQuery, as well as hosting issues and maintenance planning, database and CMS systems, mobile optimization, and form development and validation.

Academic

Advisor (Curriculum) – Laurence Catterall BEd.(Hons)

Laurence has been involved in the teaching profession for over 30 years. He has developed and been instrumental in course curriculum and has taught special needs for over 30 years. APWASI is committed to education that opens up diversity and inclusivity. Laurence has over the years been a keen enthusiast when it comes to artisan winemakers, food-makers and artisan chocolate makers.

Advisor (Geography and History)  – Marino Anagnostopoulos

Marino has over two decades experience in the hospitality industry in Europe and North America and has travelled to Asia as well. Mr. Anagnostopoulos is a firm believer in that history and geography are the ropes that closely intertwine food, wine and culture. Marino heads the APWASI history and geography committee board.

Advisor (Culinary) – Uros Djalovic

Chef Uros Djalovic culinary experiences span across two major continents, Europe and North America. While being classical trained in Europe in the tradition of great European cuisine and bringing with it all the history and culture of food from the “Old world”, Chef Uros also blended this background with the New world cuisine of North America. He is seen as the bridge between cultures and his contribution to the courses are seen in the food pairing sections.

Advisor (Cigars) – Gregory Pinch

Gregory has been enjoying the culture and passion of cigars for over 20 years.  He has traveled to cigar producing countries such as Dominican Republic and Cuba, experiencing the complete cycle of the cigar from the growing of the tobacco plants to the producing of the tobacco leaves into cigars. He and his wife, Tatiana, purchased 2000 Cigars, a retail store in the financial district of Vancouver, BC that has been in business since 1999. Gregory continues to develop his passion for cigars and share this passion with his customers and friends.

Cultural Circle Ambassadors

Joseph Yair

Joseph Yair – APWASI Cultural Ambassador

Joseph Yair has been in the wine industry for over 30 years and is considered one of the elder statesmen of this industry. He has travelled all over Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. His wine skills extended from vineyards to the gladiatorial world of wine buying and selling. He is also an international wine judge from France and was granted the Wine Master education award from the Castell Wine Conglomeration Group.

George Chu

George Chu – APWASI Cultural Ambassador

George Chu is a member of the prestigious, CONFRERIE DE LA CHAINE DES ROTISSEURS. This is an organization that selects its members only after a grueling selection process involving food and wine. George is well versed in the culinary skills and delights of both Eastern and Western cuisine. He has been instrumental in the opening and operational aspects of restaurants and consulted on countless others. George is an APWASI graduate of our wine courses.

Pardon Taguzu

Pardon Taguzu – APWASI Cultural Ambassador

Pardon brings to the team a wealth of experience in many different industries, spanning from sports to Business Administration. He has travelled the world with the intention of spreading the wealth of wine education to those who need it. He is currently the Director/Sommelier of Swirl and Sip Fine Wines and continues to do great things in the world of wine.

Augusto Ori – APWASI Cultural Ambassador

Augusto Ori possesses exceptional experience in the world of food and wine and has worked and travelled across many continents. During his position as the Italian Professor of a Hotel and Restaurant School in Italy, he taught and mentored students who are now influential people in the industry. Mr Ori is a member of the prestigious Association of Italian Sommeliers and is a wine critic and writer.

Global Hospitality Ambassador

Iwan Dietschi - Global Hospitality Ambassador

Dr. Iwan Dietschi – Global Hospitality Ambassador

A highly motivated, driven, quality focused, successful International trained Swiss Executive with over 25 years of luxury hotel experience, mostly with Ritz-Carlton hotels, in four Continents and 13 countries. He has a proven record of accomplishment of exceeding financial performance targets and achieving consistently high employee- and guest engagement scores.

He was involved in 20 hotel openings of Ritz-Carlton and other luxury brands of Marriott International throughout various Continents. As the Multi-Property Vice President for Luxury of Marriott International, he is currently in charge of eight properties in Greater China, ranging from Shenzhen to Harbin.

He received his Doctor of Business Administration from Walden University (USA) and his Executive MBA from the California State University Business School in 2012. Dr. Dietschi is a graduate of the world-renowned Hotel School in Lausanne (Switzerland).

Iwan Dietschi is the Author of the newly released book MASTERING HOSPITALITY, “An enthusiastic, passionate, and instructional take on a career in hospitality – Kirkusreviews.com. Visit www.drhotelier.com for more information.

Business Development

Branding & Marketing – Steve Culley

Steve Culley is a true entrepreneur along with being an award winning Creative Director. Since 1997, Steve keeps things real clean, real simple and to the point. From branding to integrated advertising campaigns for print and social media marketing initiatives, he understands the need to communicate the right messages in the right way, creating an invaluable contribution to client marketing objectives.
Steve has taken several companies to market, creating brands that disrupt their marketplace.

Designer—UX, UI, & Graphics – Leonardo Bocale

With a multidisciplinary background in Marketing, Graphic Design, and Human Centered Design, Leonardo has a passion to craft and design solutions. With a design mindset he will listen and accrue all the perspectives to later walk you down the distilled points of interest. His work will always have your goals first, and with care he will walk you through how they’ll be achieved.

Leigh McBain – Payment Services and Integration Solutions Specialist

Leigh has spent most of his life on the periphery of the wine world and has an appreciation for both product and industry. Although calling British Columbia home, he has traveled extensively and counts his winery visits in the hundreds. Leigh has an extensive business background and offers a wide array of experience and a multi-faceted business perspective. He is here to provide the industry’s leading toolset inpayment services and integration solutions in the pursuit of your business goals and your ongoing success.

Marketing and Communications Specialist – Liz Stephenson

Liz is an experienced Marketing and Communications Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the digital marketing industry on an international level. She is a storyteller at heart and enjoys helping craft your brand messaging. From Social Media Marketing to Press Releases to SEO, Liz will deliver purpose built strategies to further your brand growth.

When she’s not writing you’ll find Liz exploring the local restaurant scene or hanging out with her cat, Sophia.

APWASI – North America – Brian Leong

Brian Leong

APWASI – Asia – Jonathan Mather

Johnathan Mather

APWASI – United Kingdom – John Callow

John Callow

APWASI – Hong Kong – Steve Ng

Steve Ng

APWASI – South America – Terry Martens

Terry Martens

APWASI Marketing Executive – Xiao Wei Meng

Xiao Wei Meng

Lawyers

Accountants & Auditors

Quon_Robert

Robert Quon
Dentons Canada LLP

250 Howe Street
20th Floor
Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3R8
Canada

Vancouver
PricewaterhouseCoopers
250 Howe Street, Suite 1400
Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3S7

Global Affiliates

APWASI has global affiliates all across the Asia Pacific Region but we not limited to this region. These affiliates contribute in many positive levels to elevate the industry and practical APWASI courses to students and encourage learning for the future. If you would like to contribute as an Affiliate please contact us at info@apwasi.com with the heading – Affiliate Enquiry.

Resource Partners

APWASI is committed to delivering best practices and industry styled courses. We communicate, evaluate and cooperate with many different global wine bodies that represent wine producing countries. Additionally, we are open to cooperate with other bodies who are related either directly or indirectly with the wine and spirit industry and wish contribute to the wealth and bank of knowledge we currently draw upon.