Former Accolade Wines CEO appointed Director of Invivo Wines

Media Release

Tuesday 12 September, 2017

Former Accolade Wines CEO appointed Director of New Zealand’s Invivo Wines

Invivo has announced the appointment of Paul Schaafsma, former CEO of Accolade Wines, to its board as an independent director. Under Paul’s leadership, the fifth largest wine company in the world exceeded AUD$1billion in revenue with a team of 1700 employees across Australia, New Zealand, UK, China, Japan, South East Asia, USA, Chile, Canada and South Africa. His work in the industry culminated in Paul being awarded “Man of the Year” by Drinks Business magazine in 2015.

Invivo co-founder Tim Lightbourne says having Paul on board is an incredible coup for the company. “We’re over the moon to have a director with Paul’s background and understanding of the wine world. We spent a long time finding the right director to join our board, but when we spoke with Paul it was obvious he shared the same ideas about brand building and standing out from the crowd as we do. We look forward to working with Paul to achieve our global ambitions for Invivo”.

“In a short space of time Invivo has established itself as a true innovator within the global wine industry. Passion, drive and a clear understanding of what the consumer wants have delivered strong results for the business. I’m honoured to be joining the Invivo board,” said Schaafsma. “I have tremendous respect for Tim and Rob and look forward to working with them”.

About Invivo

Invivo is New Zealand’s first and only equity crowdfunded winery with investment secured in a record crowdfunding raise in 2015. The winery is well known for its unique approach to winemaking and marketing, and for launching the Graham Norton wine brand in 2014 with expected sales of over 2 million bottles this year. Invivo has also recently appointed US celebrity Nigel Barker as “glambassador” to support its conquest of the USA.

Invivo has over 400 shareholders, and last week at its AGM Invivo announced record growth in the last year with a jump of 70% in sales, plans to further develop its winery and the launch of a Graham Norton Prosecco DOC later this year.

Invivo isn’t just a winery; it’s a start-up, taking on the world one mouthful at a time. We were founded by a couple of old school friends that liked wine so much they started a winery to make some – whatever it took. Like it says in our ads, our first vintages really were made from “Grapes, time and two maxed out credit cards!”

www.invivowines.com

Invivo and Graham Norton 2017 blending https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J26hXCFEpxU

Invivo and Nigel Barker Announcement https://vimeo.com/220716005

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