Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Antoine Chaya is a well-established technology professional who holds leadership responsibilities with Oracle Corporation. A longtime wine enthusiast, Antoine Chaya is particularly drawn to varieties from the Napa Valley.One distinct American Viticultural Area (AVA) featured in a recent Wine Enthusiast article is Mount Veeder, which was only formally recognized as an AVA in the early 1990s, spanning 25 square miles west of Napa and Yountville. Unlike other mountains in the region, the terrain is home to relatively few commercially planted vineyards and is characterized by forests rich in oak, pine, and fir trees. Relatively close to the Bay, wines from makers such as Pott Wines, Lagier-Meredith, and Mithra are typically blended to make cabernet sauvignons. The blue and black berries are extremely small and pair earthy minerality with floral aromatic accents. Surprisingly, the mountain, which receives high rainfall, stays warmer during winter than the floor of the valley and tends to avoid frost. This lengthens the harvest as much as three weeks beyond most Napa vineyards and boosts production capacities.
Author, academic, and information technology professional Antoine Chaya holds an MBA and a PhD in information technology management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Based in Redwood Shores, California, Antoine Chaya serves as the senior director of strategic accounts at the computer technology company Oracle.The role of a strategic account manager involves developing and maintaining strategic customer relationships that foster mutual growth and loyalty. To create and deliver value-based solutions that meet the customer's needs and the company's expectations, strategic account managers need a specific set of skills and competencies, the foremost being an understanding of the company’s priorities and overall knowledge of the customer and the industry. Successful strategic account managers possess a high level of financial and business acumen, recognize opportunity, have superior negotiation and communication skills, and place a high value on co-creation.As managers, these professionals exhibit high-level leadership qualities such as cultural sensitivity and interpersonal relationship skills. They also hold themselves accountable for business outcomes and for the customer/corporate relationship.
