As a child, Karissa Kruse watched her grandparents in Nebraska run their farm during her summer vacations from school. “I saw how hard they worked. It was a 24-hour a day job, and in farming, you don’t get any time off,” she remembers thinking. “So why would I do that? I was always more motivated by economics and business. And I fell in love with marketing.”
Kruse, who is president of Sonoma County Winegrowers (SCW) and executive director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation (SCGGF), was born in Sioux Falls, S.D.; her father was from Iowa and her mother from Nebraska. “I grew up listening to debates around the kitchen table about which state had the most valuable farmland,” she recalls fondly.
When she was 10 years old, the family moved to Colorado Springs, Colo., where she had to start over in a new school and make new friends. “The idea that you could choose other places to live opened up my mind to thinking what was possible.” In high school, she began taking marketing classes. She admits to being an overachiever in her studies––eager and impatient. “My high school had a great marketing vocational program so I competed in marketing competitions, and in my senior year I won in the nationals.”
College was a long shot—neither of Kruse’s parents had traditional schooling, she says, and multiple generations of her family had not attended college. She and her older brother, Anthony, pursued degrees, however, and she wanted to study business. “The Wharton School of Business was No. 1 on my list, and once I was accepted—which seemed so out of reach—my brother convinced our parents that I should go there. But I had to find scholarships and financial aid to make it happen.”
Smaller budgets, bigger changes
During her undergrad years at Wharton, she was awarded an internship with Nike. “I had sent out resumes to 50 of the biggest companies in America and received 49 rejection letters. One company was interested, and that was Nike. One person took a chance on me. But from that experience, I learned I’d have to make 50 calls or send 50 resumes just to get one response. It was an important lesson on not giving up.”
Then General Mills came to Wharton to interview and recruit students for marketing positions. “Somehow, I missed the resume drop deadline, but I went to the reception for the job seekers anyway even though I wasn’t invited. I walked right up to the General Mills recruiter and said, ‘I’m so embarrassed, but would you please look at my resume?’ He called me an hour later and agreed to interview me over his lunch break. Turns out I was one of only two job candidates who went to Minneapolis for the final round interview.”
At the age of 21, Kruse had an $80 million budget at General Mills to market breakfast cereal, primarily Honey Nut Cheerios. “Now I have a $2 million budget at the age of 46. With every career change, I’ve had a smaller budget, but I’ve tried and had the opportunity to make a bigger difference and impact.”
Midwestern winters didn’t agree with her, so after marketing cereal for a time Kruse applied for a job in Los Angeles and moved there to market movies for Universal Studios. “The DVD format had just come out, and I marketed the Erin Brockovich film.” She did that type of marketing work for Universal for a couple of years.
Though marketing was fun, Kruse says she was missing out on a connection to make a real difference in a job. “I’d been working for publicly-traded companies where you don’t know the people who run the company. I thought I could jump around into different careers, but it seemed better for me to stop and go back to Wharton to get my MBA.”
Kruse also flirted with the idea of pursuing a Ph.D. there, thinking that teaching would be enjoyable. “I was able to teach undergrad marketing classes while working on my MBA, but finally I opted out of wanting to become a professor. And by then I was in love and had moved to Chicago with my now ex-husband.”
New home, new job
Now back living in the Midwest, Kruse went to work for Dairy Management, Inc., a marketing organization for the dairy industry. It was in this role that she finally felt connected to her work and loved working with farmers. Then in 2006, she lost her brother, and her fiancé lost his mother, which brought them to a crossroads in life and caused them to rethink their professional goals. “For a long time, we’d talked about moving to California and getting into the wine business. We told ourselves that corporate America would always be there to fall back on, so let’s go do this instead. So we literally packed our bags and moved to Sonoma County. We began making a little wine, but soon realized that it’s a long-haul business.”
Kruse kept her options open in the dairy industry, and for five years worked as a consultant for Dairy Management and other regional dairy associations. “Then I went through a divorce, realized I had no local clients and was always on a plane for work. I wanted to plant roots, and I loved Sonoma County.”
Her life changed profoundly when she saw the advertisement for a full-time marketing director with Sonoma County Winegrowers. After interviewing, she landed the job and made the decision to give up her own business. “In discussing the offer and opportunity with then-president of SCW, Nick Frey, he told me I would never find a better job working for a better group of people. He couldn’t have been more right. Nick was planning to retire within a year, and the organization discussed the possibility of me succeeding him. So when Nick retired, I was promoted into his role. However, they still made me interview for the job,” she says with a laugh. In September, I’ll have been with the group for 10 years.”
Grapegrower Steve Sangiacomo was on the hiring committee that chose Kruse to fill the marketing position at SCW. “Karissa displayed an amazing marketing presence with her passion and vision,” he explains. “She also had her own wine brand at the time she interviewed with us, so that displayed a commitment and dedication to Sonoma County that parlayed into what she has done for us. Her strategic marketing mind is second to none and definitely what we needed as a county.”
The owner of Cornerstone Certified Vineyard, Jim Pratt, says that Kruse is one of the most forward-thinking people he knows. “She’s very aware of what’s going on around us and what it is we need to do as growers and as a community to thrive. But it’s her ability to plan and adapt for the next 10 years, or the next 20 years or more, that is so unique.”
Defining “sustainability”
Under her guidance, in 2014 SCW embraced the sustainability initiative that within five years would make Sonoma County the most sustainable wine-growing region in the world. At least 99% of Sonoma County’s vineyard acreage is certified sustainable by a third-party program. The remaining 1%, Kruse says, “are folks that were either slow to adopt the initiatives, were in transition [replacing vines or selling], or the organization didn’t know how to reach them.”
The sustainability initiative is a framework, she says, a road map to support the farmers. “One grape grower told me that it’s like getting a Ph.D. in his vineyard.”
When a grape grower says they are certified sustainable, they are following 140 best management practices that cover a multitude of categories, such as training and education, supporting employees, community engagement, minimizing their impact on the land and succession plans. “There’s no easy answer to the definition of sustainability, it’s not a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but a journey,” says Kruse. “If you have a dollar to invest, how are you getting the most return that supports sustainability?”
On top of achieving best practices, the sustainable grape growers also have to do something annually that improves their land or growing methods. “Each year they have to find a way to do better or with less impact on the land,” she says.
One specific thing that consumers will understand about maintaining a sustainable vineyard, she explains, is irrigation practices. “Historically, growers would turn on sprinklers automatically and water an entire vineyard. Now we’ve moved toward conservative water use that includes using technology to know how much water is already in the soil and then adding just enough water as needed so no drop is wasted and the aquifers are recharged. The most sophisticated thing in irrigation is to move toward more precision.”
The love of agriculture
“Karissa’s connection to farming is real, as is her understanding of what farmers, and grape growers in particular, need and think about,” says Virginie Boone, a contributing writer for Wine Enthusiast magazine and collaborator with Kruse on the SCW’s Center for Ag Sustainability. “But she also brings an adept business marketing perspective to it all and the ability to communicate effectively. She can walk into a room filled with a bunch of grape growers, which can be a pretty diverse group and intimidating for some, but she doesn’t scare easily.”
Kruse’s Center for Ag Sustainability was launched in 2017 as a think tank, in partnership with the Wharton School of Business. Its goal is to bring subject matter experts to Sonoma County to focus on issues and opportunities affecting the long-term preservation of agriculture.
Congressman Mike Thompson says one of the things that makes Kruse so special is that she really cares and understands how important everyone is in the wine community. “She understands that everyone plays an integral role in the success of the wine community here. That includes giving awards to the farmworkers, who have not had a lot of recognition events done for them. That speaks volumes to her value set and is a great reminder of how important she knows they are to the community. People like Karissa really make things happen.”
Between 2012 and 2017, California lost a million acres of ag land, and most of that was small farms, Kruse says. “There’s been something lost, a loss of the love of agriculture. I want to bridge that and tell the farmers’ stories, and show people what they do, and why it matters today and for all of our futures.”
“What drives me goes back to my roots and why I started working with farmers in the first place. Because as a society we need to preserve agriculture. When I was little and spent time with my grandfather, I witnessed that other people treated farmers like heroes. They respected them for taking care of the land. I want to make certain our farmers survive and thrive, and I want other people to see them as I see them—to understand that agriculture matters.”
Kruse also finds ways to use her business and marketing skills in other areas affecting our communities. One is as a commissioner on the First 5 Sonoma County board of commissioners. The organization, led by executive director Angie Dillon-Shore, uses California tobacco tax revenue to fund programs supporting the health and development of children from birth to age 5.
“Karissa is now starting her third year as a commissioner with First 5 and is also treasurer and serves on our finance and executive committees,” says Dillon-Shore. “Through her role in the Grape Growers Foundation, she works with a lot of employers whose workers are parents of some of the most vulnerable children in the county––kids living in poverty and impacted by immigration issues. She has a lot of integrity and is not afraid to forge into new areas. She has a growth mindset and she’s also really engaging and down to earth.”
Life in context
Kruse lost her home in the Tubbs Fire in 2017, and recently gave a TEDx talk that included remarks about her disaster experience. “The fire was incredibly traumatic, but I was also able to put it into context, based on my experience. I’d lost my brother and that loss was profound. Losing some of the belongings that were most precious to me was not the same as losing the people who made those memories. I’d been through that grief already. I had learned tools to cope and process. That perspective really helped me begin to heal and recover.”
Sonoma County’s Queen of Green admits to being a glass-is-half-full kind of person. “I walked a jagged path to get here, but somehow, it all led me to this place where I’m incredibly happy and doing something that I believe matters. “I’m in love,” she says, referring to her husband, Steve Dutton, of Dutton Ranch. “I’m now married to a farmer, and my office is on a vineyard. Between the love of what I saw in my childhood and the threat of losing ag, it motivates me to get out of bed every morning. My mother always said my grandfather would be so proud of me. That’s in my heart, and I’ll use whatever God-given skills I have to move that forward. I’m carrying on my own family’s legacy in a new way.”
A Marketing Guru
Karissa Kruse has been in the marketing game for her entire adult career, and her resume is proof that marketing works. She received a bachelor’s degree in economics and an MBA in marketing from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Sonoma County Winegrowers, she had marketing roles in such major corporations as General Mills, Mattel, and Universal Studios, as well as Dairy Management, Inc., an organization created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to promote dairy products.
Earned the 2016 Friend of Agriculture Award from the Sonoma County Harvest Fair.
Named in 2017 to a list of “Badass Disruptors Changing Your Food System” compiled by the online platform Organic Authority.
Named in 2017 as one of the most innovative women in food and drink by Food & Wine magazine.
Named a Green Leader in 2018 by Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Selected as Leader of the Year in 2018 by the California Association of Winegrape Growers.
Named by Congressman Mike Thompson as 2020 Sonoma County Woman of the Year in his congressional district.
Kruse is also active in the community, serving on various boards and finding time to help with good causes. These include the Memorial Hospital Community Board, Green Music Center, California Association of Winegrape Growers, First 5 Sonoma County, North Bay Leadership Council and Health Action Council. She is a past chair and past board director of United Way of the Wine Country, and a past board member for the Sonoma County Alliance, Sonoma County Farm Bureau and Sonoma County Tourism.
A Rock Star
Congressman Mike Thompson says Karissa Kruse has never met a stranger. “I’ve known her a long time, and I think this speaks to what type of person she is, but I feel like I’ve always known her. She cares about what she does, and as a result, wants to make sure everybody cares. She’s a rock star and has had to deal with fires, drought and COVID-19. I don’t think you can get her down.”
A Farmworker’s Friend
Jose Cervantes, operations supervisor at Cornerstone Certified Vineyard for more than 22 years, has known Karissa Kruse for several years, since first meeting her at a seminar. “I’ve worked very well with Karissa, and she has explained sustainability to me and helped me to understand its importance.”
In 2019, Cervantes received the Employee of the Year award from the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation (SCGGF), overseen by executive director Kruse. “I was on top of the world and very happy,” he says. “My family was proud of me.”
The SCGGF was reintroduced by Kruse in 2016 with a mission to support vineyard workers and their families with resources for health care, affordable housing, child care, education, resiliency and recovery, and workforce development. “We have now launched a leadership academy within the foundation to teach leadership skills to farmworkers, and classes are conducted in English and Spanish,” she says. “We just kicked that off with 15 vineyard workers who will learn about succession planning and envisioning the farm of the future.”
