Wine.com builds executive team with e-commerce veterans from Shutterfly, Williams-Sonoma

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Wine.com, the nation's #1 online wine retailer, today announced the addition of Peter Elarde as Chief Marketing Officer and Greg Tatem as Vice President, Engineering to the Wine.com executive team.  As CMO, Elarde will oversee marketing, corporate sales, product management, and user experience.  In his role as VP of Engineering, Tatem will lead platform architecture, engineering design and development, and internet operations. 

"We're on a roll.  Wine.com is profitable, growing, hiring and innovating," said Rich Bergsund, CEO. "Peter and Greg are bringing new energy and talent to our management team, and will be instrumental as we continue building Wine.com into a great company, great brand, and an exciting place to work."

Elarde brings more than 20 years of marketing, product, and management experience along with a track record of driving innovation and growth.  He spent 10 years at Shutterfly in senior positions including Chief Marketing Officer and head of product and user experience.  During his tenure, Shutterfly grew from less than $10M to over $500M in revenue and a successful IPO.  Prior to that, Elarde held product and marketing roles with a number of fast growing technology startups including Achieva.com, Tom Snyder Productions, and The Learning Company.  

Tatem brings a wealth of experience in leading and nurturing strong development teams. Over the past 20 years, he has managed services and developed software for companies such as Bechtel, Scotland Yard, Microsoft and Xerox. Most recently, Tatem spent three years at Williams-Sonoma, where he oversaw the e-commerce platform that served the company's five brands. During his tenure, e-commerce grew to over 40% of Williams-Sonoma's $4 billion in total revenue. In addition, Tatem developed an innovative personalization engine to serve users customized content. He is a technology thought leader with a passion for the customer experience.

Elarde and Tatem come on board at an opportune time. As an innovator in online wine sales, Wine.com continues to grow and expand key services including Steward-Ship, the popular loyalty shipping program, and mobile solutions to make it easy for consumers to find and purchase wine on the go. 

About Wine.com        
Wine.com is the nation's leading online wine retailer, according to Internet Retailer magazine's annual ranking of websites by revenue.  The company's mission is to promote the wine lifestyle through innovation, which it does by providing its customers with selection, guidance, convenience and value not found in stores.  Unique in its industry, Wine.com owns a proprietary network of wine fulfillment centers which delivers in 1 or 2 days to most of the country.  The company's Steward-Ship program, unlimited wine delivery for $49 per year, is a customer favorite.  Wine.com is majority owned by Baker Capital.  For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.wine.com.

About Baker Capital
Baker Capital, founded in 1995, is a New York-based private equity firm which has raised over $1.5 billion in committed capital. Baker Capital invests in growth companies at all stages of development in both Europe and North America. The partners of Baker Capital have extensive private equity and operational experience, allowing the firm to provide its portfolio companies with not only capital but also strategic thinking and relationships.

SOURCE Wine.com