Selected Experience & Results.
Selected projects showing how Bryan has led complex initiatives, built partnerships, improved operations, and moved ideas into practical implementation.
#1 — Building Trust in Pilot-Scale Innovation
E. & J. Gallo Winery | Research Winemaking & Pilot Operations
Operational excellence, applied research and scale-up
The Challenge
Gallo’s Research Winery generated valuable product and process research, but capacity constraints, experimental losses, and the gap between small research lots and commercial production limited its effectiveness. Harvest overtime was excessive, routine analysis consumed significant staff time, some research wines were lost to refermentation, and commercial teams needed greater confidence that successful experiments could scale.
What I Did
I treated these as connected operating problems rather than isolated technical issues. I used three years of overtime data to build the financial case for seasonal staffing, analyzed laboratory workflow to justify analytical automation, and quantified research losses to support installation of sterile cartridge filtration and integrity testing.
To address scale-up, I proposed an intermediate pilot winery that could bridge controlled research fermentations and commercial production. After leadership approved the concept, I co-led technical design and operating planning for the Livingston Pilot Winery, adapting the original concept to a $530,000 budget while preserving its research purpose. I also developed staffing, production, and data-flow systems so the facility could operate effectively when commissioned.
Results
Eliminated harvest overtime while increasing production capacity by approximately 30%.
Reduced routine fermentation-analysis time by nearly half.
Eliminated recurring research-wine spoilage.
Expanded pilot operations staffing from 3 to 12 employees across four facilities.
Supported more than 1,200 experimental wine lots.
Launched the $530,000 Livingston Pilot Winery on schedule and approximately 3% under budget.
Processed approximately 180 tons during the facility’s first harvest without an injury.
The lasting lesson was that innovation becomes useful when people trust the systems that produce, test, and scale it.
#2 — From Teaching Winery to Workforce Engine
Napa Valley College | Viticulture & Winery Technology
Program development, operations and workforce education
The Challenge
Napa Valley College had invested in a bonded teaching winery, but a facility alone did not create a functioning educational operation. The program needed production equipment, staffing continuity, stronger operating systems, meaningful student participation, and a way to connect classroom instruction with professional-quality production and the marketplace.
What I Did
I worked with industry, college leadership, and the Napa Valley College Foundation to build the operating capacity around the facility. Industry donations and grant support helped secure critical production equipment, while donated biotechnology assets and applied research projects generated resources to strengthen staffing.
I redesigned coursework so students participated directly in winery responsibilities and helped create work-experience opportunities that combined mentorship, college credit, and documented industry experience.
The program also expanded beyond production. Students participated in commercial research projects, label development, interdisciplinary projects with art, welding, and ceramics, and the Mayfair wine-release event, where they could present their work to the community and industry.
Results
Trained more than 850 students through hands-on winery operations and instruction.
Generated approximately $32,000 through student-supported applied industry research.
Created employer-connected work-experience and internship opportunities.
Secured industry equipment, donations, grant support, and revenue-producing projects.
Built interdisciplinary partnerships across wine, art, welding, ceramics, marketing, and hospitality.
Redesigned the Estate Winery brand and launched the Mayfair release event, contributing to a 300% increase in wine sales within three years.
Student-produced wines earned commercial recognition, including a Best in Class Pinot Noir.
Graduates advanced into university programs and professional wine-industry careers.
The winery became valuable when the physical facility was connected to people, operating systems, industry relationships, and real pathways from education into work.
#3 — From Applied Research to Workforce Systems
Research Oenovation Collective → Vintners Institute → Destination Agriculture
Innovation ecosystems, technology adoption and workforce strategy
The Challenge
Smaller agricultural businesses often lack the research, technical education, and workforce-development infrastructure available to large organizations. My work across applied research, technical communication, education, and workforce development repeatedly exposed the same gap: innovation may exist, but adoption depends on trusted demonstrations, peer learning, accessible training, and people prepared to put new practices into use.
What I Did
Through the Research Oenovation Collective, I helped create a collaborative model in which multiple wineries could test technologies and practices, compare results, and learn from one another.
After COVID-19 and California wildfires disrupted that model, I co-founded Vintners Institute and helped redesign it around distributed learning, technical education, applied research, and apprenticeship-aligned training. The network grew from eight participating wineries to approximately 20.
My technical journalism for Wine Business Monthly broadened that work further, resulting in more than 50 articles translating research, emerging technologies, sustainability, and agricultural innovation for industry audiences.
I later applied the same listening-and-testing approach to agricultural workforce development. Using labor-market data, I identified more than 700 prospective employers across four North Bay counties and approximately 200 priority businesses, then met with employers to understand their needs. Those conversations helped shape Destination Agriculture and the proposed Agroecology Operations Technician apprenticeship around a simple agricultural value chain: Grow → Make → Sell.
Results
Built a collaborative multi-winery applied-research model.
Created peer-learning forums supporting technology evaluation and adoption.
Rebuilt a disrupted network from 8 to approximately 20 participating wineries.
Integrated distance education and apprenticeship-aligned technical learning.
Authored 50+ technical articles translating research and innovation for industry.
Built a four-county pipeline of 700+ prospective employers and approximately 200 priority businesses.
Used employer listening, labor-market analysis, and industry engagement to develop Destination Agriculture and advance the proposed Agroecology Operations Technician apprenticeship.
The progression from research to adoption to workforce reinforced a central idea behind Regionicity: regional innovation depends on an ecosystem of people, institutions, knowledge, and practical implementation.
#4 — Technical Operations & Quality Troubleshooting
Turning difficult production problems into practical corrective action
The Challenge
Food and beverage quality problems rarely exist in isolation. Microbial contamination, refermentation, sanitation failures, and process-control problems can involve equipment, facility design, production practices, and human systems as much as laboratory results.
What I Did
For a family-owned Oregon Pinot Noir producer experiencing recurring Brettanomyces concerns, I reviewed the wine, sanitation practices, equipment, and facility systems. The investigation identified a contaminated fresh-air intake near decomposing fruit as an avoidable source of insect and microbial load. I recommended relocating the intake, incorporating it into routine sanitation, and improving filtration.
For a national kombucha producer experiencing refermentation in packaged product, I evaluated the tunnel-pasteurization process. The product was reaching target temperature but was not receiving sufficient thermal exposure. Rather than simply increasing temperature, I recommended improving insulation at the tunnel entrance so heating began earlier and effective hold time increased.
Results
Identified a facility-level contamination risk that routine wine analysis alone had not revealed.
Developed practical sanitation and airflow corrective actions to reduce future microbial risk.
Identified insufficient thermal exposure as the underlying process issue in packaged kombucha.
Developed a corrective action that increased effective pasteurization without unnecessarily raising target temperature.
Subsequent microbiological validation across multiple production runs detected no growth.
These projects reinforced the value of combining technical knowledge with direct observation of how facilities, processes, and people actually operate.