Craig Cooper Santa Rosa, CA

707-***-****

https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-cooper-862a0716

Winery Facilities Manager

Proven innovative winery facilities manager with over 15+ years of experience managing multiple facilities and properties within Sonoma and Napa valley. Developed continuous improvements and implemented processes. Project managed several capital projects and process improvements over 5 million dollars simultaneously for multiple sites.

Skills and Accomplishments

● Vendor management and negotiations

●Wastewater treatment plant management

● Through understanding of hazardous materials/laws with Sonoma and Napa Counties

●Project cost estimating and bids review

●Handling of all emergencies with internal and external personnel

●Winery equipment expertise, purchasing of capital equipment and PM for all project upgrades (7 million project budget)

●SWPPP, CERS, WasteWater

●Strong leadership skills and effective communicator with all winery personnel as well with senior leaders

Professional Experience:

1/2020-10/31/2023 Facilities Manager

FN CellarsLLC

Managing facilities for: Nickel and Nickel, Bella Union Winery, Bella Oaks, En Route and St. Helena Administrative offices.

●Interim Director of Operations for 8 months while managing all aspects of current role 2022.

●Managing compliance consultants and service providers for SWPPP, CERS, Process WasteWater, Domestic Waste Water, and Air Quality Resource R3 website reporting.

●Managing repair and service for process equipment, chiller, boiler, cooling tower, air compressor, process and domestic wastewater treatment, potable water treatment, and HVAC.

●Creating and maintaining vendor maintenance contracts and schedules.

●Source and negotiate RFQ/RFP for capital equipment replacements and capital projects for all sites.

●Planning with winemaking to ensure smooth operations and maintenance on equipment is done in preparation of harvest.

●Facilitate and collaborate with hospitality and events managers and staff to ensure guests have the best experience while on property.

●Crafting operation yearly budgets for repairs and CapEx budgets.

●Work daily with project managers, general contractors, subcontractors, architects, and engineers to streamline and manage the overall capital continuous maintenance and projects; from conception to completion.

●Manages and mentors a lead mechanic and facilities technicians with career development

1/2018- 12/2019 Facilities Manager

Huneeus Vintners

(Quintessa, Flower Winery and Faust Winery)

●Managed all sites equipment, wastewater and water treatment processes and regulations reporting and training.

●Worked with consultants on sampling and reporting for state potable water plants, wastewater ponds, irrigation reservoirs, and stormwater, and diesel fire pumps.

●Worked closely with consultants, service providers on SWPPP, CERS, R3 website reporting. sampling and reporting for state potable water plants, wastewater ponds, irrigation reservoirs, and stormwater, diesel fire pumps.

●Managed and vets service all contractors.

●Created and maintained service contracts and schedules, and providers for maintenance

●Vendor selection to obtain quotes for capital equipment replacement.

2014-2018 Winery Facilities Manager

Merryvale-Starmont Wines Napa, CA

●Facilities, equipment, and grounds management of two Napa Valley wineries:

oPrepared project budgets, sourced/negotiated with vendors, scheduled maintenance and repairs, established cleaning schedules; and initiated waste reduction improvements

●Met with company CFO daily and delivered weekly reports to apprise him of key maintenance issues, special projects and other critical facility matters.

●Sat in on all production, marketing, bottling line and construction meetings in order to guide overall winery operations to higher efficiency and enhanced profitability

●Collaborated with city, county and state officials to ensure environmental law compliance

oWrote new StormWater Policy Procedure (SWPP) permit to satisfy state environmental documentation requirements

oUpdated hazardous material listings on SMART website per county directives

oDiscovered ammonia leakage from Merryvale wastewater plant and worked with county to implement less caustic, non-airborne wastewater treatment solutions

●Leveraged systems that had been underutilized by previous management to enable remote control of production and wastewater plant equipment

Project Management

Manages special projects ranging from $10K-$2M

●Oversaw $2M project for new tasting room and mitigated key contractor mistakes to complete work on time and within budget

●Supervises ongoing $1M project to improve facility earthquake protection

●Completed plans for $480K structural improvements to Merryvale tasting room (contracts currently being negotiated)

●Created $380K budget for Starmont winery refurbishing project to prevent mechanical shutdowns

●Spearheaded projects to replace/upgrade processing equipment, resulting in hiring of new, fully vetted companies that have proved more dependable than previous firms

Earthquake Remediation Efforts

Implemented emergency measures that prevented the loss of 12,000 barrels of wine and the leakage of thousands of gallons of glycol into Starmont Winery wastewater treatment plant in the aftermath of 2014 Napa earthquake

●Arranged for emergency chillers to be delivered to protect wine until damaged chillers could be repaired/replaced

●Enlisted crane and rigging companies to salvage full wine barrels that had been strewn about by the earthquake

●Directed emergency bottling line repairs, resulting in resumption of production 48 hours after the earthquake

●Ensured crush proceeded on schedule by contracting vendor to repair damaged tanks

2007-2012 Maintenance and Safety Manager, ConeTech, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA

●Coordinated maintenance schedules, equipment repair and project management for company that adjusts alcohol levels of wine for wineries around the world

●Reduced cost of pre-metric valves for bürkert fluid control systems by 66% ($1,200 vs. $400) by obtaining valves locally instead of through Australian manufacturer

●Established motor rewind program that reduced need to buy new motors from Australian manufacturer, resulting in 89% reduction in motor costs ($400 vs. $3,500 per motor)

●Rebuilt de-alcoholization machine for $300,000, saving company $1.2 million

●Reduced workman’s compensation claims as safety manager by working with insurance representatives to identify and correct potential hazards

Education

●Wastewater Treatment Classes, Santa Rosa Junior College Santa Rosa, CA

●Various Continuing Education and Certifications, including Boiler Systems Plus/Boiler Advanced Systems Plus; Hands on Centrifugal Pump Maintenance; 2008 National Electrical Code; SLC 500 PLC Maintenance and Troubleshooting; Troubleshooting Electrical Control Circuits, EPA Certification Exam; and Basic Industrial Electricity Exams, I and II

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