Photo of Margie Ferree Jones via https://www.cpp.edu/collins
Last August, SWE welcomed in a new president as well as a new Board of Directors. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a series of articles to introduce our new leaders. As the first in the series, we would like to welcome the new president of the Board of Directors, Dr. Margie Ferree Jones, CWE!
Margie Ferree Jones, CWE, says she is excited to serve as the Society of Wine Educators’ new president for the SWE Board of Directors and looks forward to the year ahead with optimism. The Society has evolved in so many important ways during Margie’s years as both a SWE member and as a member of the Board of Directors.
Margie’s first SWE experience was attending the 2001 Annual Conference in Eugene, Oregon. Eugene is a wonderful college town and the quality of conference education had Margie hooked. She then began working on her CWE and her Ph.D. in the same year. It was certainly not a steady or straight path to the CWE as back in the day there was just a recommended reading list.
Margie was elected as a board member in 2009, an exciting time for the Society as new certifications and certificates were being added to the product line up. In 2019, Margie returned for a second term on the Board and joined the executive committee. Here she had a front row seat to the power skills of the SWE operations team who were so resilient in the era of the pandemic finding ways to cut expenses, identify new members as well as new ways to involve the existing membership. Dr. Jones stated she is so proud to have been involved with SWE as it has evolved and now offers an incredible suite of study tools to support the journey to certification, stay current, and teach others.
Margie’s career has been as a faculty member at Cal Poly Pomona’s Collins College of Hospitality Management where she has taught some type of beverage course since 1990. She is a professor who is presently serving at the Interim Dean for Cal Poly Pomona’s Collins College. In addition to her CWE, she is an accredited tutor for the Bordeaux Wine School, has completed the Advanced Level certification through Wines & Spirits Education Trust and the Certified Sommelier credential through the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas. Margie served as the steward for the Los Angeles International Wine Competition for twenty years and has enjoyed judging at other competitions as well. She feels fortunate to have had the privilege of teaching wine courses to both undergraduates and the public for over three decades.
Margie’s goals for her time as SWE President are to work with the board and SWE operations team to grow corporate, industry and professional memberships, continue to strengthen SWE’s competitive advantage in the online world, and to find ways to increase membership engagement and SWE’s presence in the marketplace.
Margie encourages members to consider pursuing new certifications and to take advantage of the great online content in the membership portal, and available study tools like digital flashcards, tasting grids, practice test and quizzes, on-line academies, and digital wine map exercises may be used to stay current or to help others learn.
Margie said “the SWE conference content in Indian Wells last month was terrific and it was great to see people together again. I look forward to catching up with more of you at the Virtual Conference, October 14 to 16, 2022 or during a webinar in the coming year.”
Please join us in welcome Margie Jones, CWE as the new president of the SWE Board of Directors!