Bill Gao, CSW, CSS, HBSC
Meet Bill Gao, CSW, CSS, HBSC. Bill was born and grew up in Shanghai, China, and studied physics at Shanghai Normal University. After completing his studies, he worked as an editor for the Shanghai Educational Publishing House for five years, then decided to move to the United States to continue his education. A resident of Chicago since 1985, he has attained a Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees with majors in physics and computer science from Northeastern Illinois University. In 1991 he began working with Fisher Scientific Company, but ultimately started his own business in 1995 as a distributor of school laboratory equipment and supplies. He retired from that endeavor a few years ago.
Bill has something of an omnivorous curiosity; among his interests was an attraction to wine and spirits that actually began with his father, who migrated to Shanghai and worked for a German company for some twenty years. It was his father who used to drink brandy and whisky and taught him about western culture. Only a few years ago, a friend gave him for his birthday a book on wine (Wine Appreciation, by David Williams), and he began to consciously learn to focus on and engage wine. He was set on the path to serious study by a wine show he attended in Beijing in 2015—he had a chance to taste wines from all over the world but realized he did not know how to fully appreciate them. So the next step was to look for a way to more deeply study wine and spirits. He went online and discovered the Society of Wine Educators. He passed the exams for the CSW, the CSS, and the HBSC in the span of only ten months.
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Because Bill’s experience in Chinese and American cultures is both deep and wide, he is in a unique position to be an envoy between the two, and he is helping the SWE launch its programs in the Chinese market while navigating the complexities of doing business in China. Plus, he is simply committed to sharing his passion for wine and wine education with people in China. In his own words: “I feel I can do a lot to help Chinese enthusiasts because I know both cultures and have connections in China.
Wine and spirits connoisseurship are still new in China, but the market is growing like crazy in recent years. . . . However, due to the language barrier and other reasons, China’s wine education is way behind. I feel strongly I have a mission to help them and help to achieve SWE’s goal in China.”
This past summer, Bill traveled to China for two months and attended wine shows in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing, doing some research for the SWE. It is estimated that there are 100,000 to 150,000 wine students in China spread out among a number of wine schools large and small, and Bill believes there are tremendous opportunities for the SWE and the venture of wine education among Chinese enthusiasts.
Thank you, Bill, for your passion for wine and your work with the SWE in China!
Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey
If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org