The background
Jon Rickards grew up in Alexander Valley, California, where his family farmed premium wine grapes starting in 1976. Despite spending his childhood on a working vineyard, Jon initially wanted nothing to do with agriculture — and joined the United States Navy out of high school, where he attended Machinist Mate A-School, Nuclear Power School, and Nuclear Power Prototype School, and served aboard the USS Nimitz and USS California during the First Gulf War.
The greatest lesson from his Navy years, Jon says, was learning to actively search for and find his passion. That search led him to finance and numbers. After his service, Jon earned an Associate of Arts in Business Administration from Santa Rosa Junior College — graduating with High Honors, Dean's List recognition, and membership in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society — before going on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Finance/Business Administration from Sonoma State University, where he served as Finance Club President in 1998.
Building a career
Jon began his professional career at Cardinale Estate Winery in Oakville, where he was later promoted and moved to the corporate offices of Kendall Jackson Wine Estates in Santa Rosa, spending six years advancing from Data Entry to Pricing Coordinator to Financial Analyst. During that time he designed and built the Kendall Jackson Price Book, participated in JDEdwards ERP implementations, and managed all wine production financial transactions through the company's proprietary BIMS system.
He went on to serve as Product Manager at Orion Wine Software in Santa Rosa from 2007 to 2011, where he was named Employee of the Year in 2009 and promoted from Project Manager to Product Manager in 2010. He managed two winery software business units, led all customer implementations, and acted as primary liaison between the user base and development teams.
From 2011 to 2013, Jon served as Director of Operations and acting CFO at J. Rickards Winery in Geyserville, where he grew the wine club by 300% and total case sales by 210%, developed General Ledger and Financial Statement infrastructure, and worked directly in cellar and vineyard operations alongside the production team.
Jon then spent six years at WX Brands in Novato as Project Manager, where he was named Employee of the Quarter in Q3 2014. He led multiple private label and national wine brand launches, launched RevelWineClub.com, and managed a full ERP implementation across Finance, Sales, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Marketing departments.
From 2020 to 2022, Jon served as VP of Finance & Manufacturing at Rack & Riddle Custom Wine Services in Healdsburg, where he led both departments through significant year-over-year production growth. His work included transitioning cost accounting to standard costing within the Vintrace winemaking system, implementing Sales & Operating Plan (S&OP) processes, and guiding teams through COVID-related labor challenges across three warehouse locations.
Jon Rickards Business Management
In January 2022, Jon founded Jon Rickards Business Management, based in Petaluma, California. The business offers advising, coaching, and consulting services to small businesses and growing organizations — with a particular focus on strategic planning, financial empowerment, and operational clarity.
His mission statement: "My mission is to help you bring order to your chaos through strategic planning and financial empowerment."
Jon serves clients throughout Sonoma County, Marin County, Napa County, and Northern California, and works with remote clients across the United States. He brings rare cross-functional depth — having held VP, Director, Manager, and Analyst-level roles across finance, operations, supply chain, and technology — making him equally comfortable in a boardroom discussion and on the shop floor.
Education
Jon holds an MBA in Wine Business from Sonoma State University (2014), with coursework in Global Wine Business, Wine Cost Accounting & Control, Business Intelligence, Managerial Finance, Strategic Human Resource Management, and Entrepreneurship.
He also holds a BS in Business Administration Finance from Sonoma State University (1998) and an AA in Business Administration from Santa Rosa Junior College (1996), as well as a Microsoft Excel Expert Certification and continuing education from SRJC, Napa College, Sonoma State, and UC Davis covering wine compliance, tasting room sales, and food safety.
