American Wine Society®

Leadership & Staff

American Wine Society®

Leadership & Staff

2025 Board of Directors

Eric Feldhake

President

Walt Whitman Chapter, NJ
Member since 2002

Along with serving as American Wine Society Vice President, Eric has also been on the board of the American Wine Society Educational Foundation as General Counsel since 2017. Eric brings a wealth of wine knowledge to the position as an American Wine Society Certified Wine Judge, Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) with the Society of Wine Educators, Wine and Spirits Educational Trust (WSET) Level 2 with Distinction, holder of an Advanced Wine Certificate from The Wine School of Philadelphia, and wine educator at Stockton University, Rowan University, and The Haddonfield Adult School. Eric is a shareholder at Kulzer & DiPadova, PA practicing Trust and Estates law, adjunct professor at Professor at Rowan University, Department of Entrepreneurship, and a retired JAG Officer with the United States Army Reserve where he served for over 32 years.

President Job Description

 

Ron Natalie

Vice President

Catawba Chapter, NC
Member since 2014

Ron founded the Catawba, North Carolina Chapter of the American Wine Society in 2009. He and his wife Margy serve as Co-chairs. He became a wine enthusiast after running a Marathon in Bordeaux, France. Ron is a WSET Level 2 and 3 Graduate with distinction, an American Wine Society WJCP graduate and has worked on the wine judging competition in multiple capacities since 1993. Ron founded and was president of “Save Sherrills Ford, Inc.,” a non-profit organization working on local land-use issues and was a board member of the North Carolina Woodworkers Association, where, since 2011, he has also served as their webmaster.

Vice President  Job Description

 

Carol Maher

Secretary

Ocean Isle Beach (NC) Chapter
Member since 2012

Carol was the original Treasurer for the Ocean Isle Beach chapter and was responsible for acquiring their tax exempt status. She is a WJCP graduate who passed WSET levels 1, 2, and 3. She has served the past few years as the head of the Governance Committee, working on updating AWS policies and procedures. She has volunteered for the past five years with AARP providing free tax preparation for residents of NC and SC. She has four  decades of experience in health care management.

Secretary Job Description

 

Richard Berezinsky

Treasurer

Myrtle Beach Chapter, SC
Member since 2010

Rich has been involved with nonprofits for most of his career, in a variety of positions including CFO and Executive Director. He has an MBA and is a retired CPA. Rich became involved with American Wine Society in 2010 and became Vice Chair and then Chair of a Chapter with over 150 members. When he retired and moved, he and his wife, Mary, formed a Chapter in their new hometown.

Treasurer Job Description

 

 

Rex Bambling

Director of Competitions

Northern Loudoun County Chapter, VA
Member since 2003

Rex completed the American Wine Society Certified Wine Judge training program in 2011. While judging in local, regional, national, and international wine competitions, he became interested in all aspects of wine competitions. For the past four years, Rex has been coordinating the back room activities for the American Wine Society competition held at the national conference. During these years, he has applied his background in software development to computerize many of the tedious and labor-intensive steps that are required to organize the wines, present them to the judging panels, and process the scoring results.

Director of Competitions Job Description

 

Carrie A. Garczynski

Director of Member Service

Denver Chapter, CO
Member since 2017

Carrie Garczynski, wine courtesan/owner of Carried Away, designs, develops and facilitates wine classes/dinners for public, private and corporate events focusing on the beauty, essence and verve wine brings to life, creating memorable experiences. With a background in corporate development and marketing, she has created numerous programs for a variety of organizations, ranging from a billion-dollar, privately-owned construction company to a quaint non-profit arts venue started in 1883. Shifting into the wonderful world of wine, she has achieved her WSET Level 3, International Spirits and Wine Guild Certified Executive Wine Sommelier, Certified Sr Wine Cellar Manager, and is pursuing her Society of Wine Education Certified Specialist of Wine and her WSET Level 4 Diploma. In addition, she has started ‘Wining With Wisdom’, an educational blind wine tasting group and is the Colorado RVP. She is a member of Women of the Vine & Spirits; Women’s Wine Guild of Colorado; Les Dégustateurs; Master Gardeners; and Evergreen Moonlight Gardening Club. When not dabbling in wine, Carrie enjoys skiing, gardening, golfing, traveling, playing outside and learning French.

Director of Member Service Job Description

 

Kevin Ostrowski

Director of Education

Finger Lakes Chapter, NY
Member since 2010

A retired teacher and nuclear power executive, Kevin completed his WSET3 (with Merit) award, is a Certified Specialist of Wine, and holds a Champagne Master Level Certificate. He is an active American Wine Society (AWS) Certified Wine Judge with Merit, a member of the AWS Education Committee, serves as an instructor in the three-year AWS Wine Judge Certification Program and is the Chapter Chair of the AWS Beaver County Chapter. He is a member of the Wine Century Club and is PA RAMP Certified. Judging numerous competitions in the Northeast, he has enjoyed serving as a wine judge for the Great American, Big E, Wine Maker Magazine, NY State Fair, Hudson Valley, Texas International Wine Competition, the Pennsylvania Farm Show, and Pennsylvania Sommelier Judgement. An award-winning amateur winemaker, Kevin also enjoys teaching wine classes for Butler County Community College. Kevin, and his more than patient wife Cheryl, reside in Beaver, PA, and keep busy with family, cooking, gardening, traveling, and trying to keep up with a 6-year-old grandson.

Director of Education Job Description 

Colleen Reardon

Colleen Reardon

Member Service Manager

Electric City Chapter, PA
Member since 2021

Colleen joined the National Office staff as Member Service Manager in September of 2021. She brought a great deal of non-profit, marketing and communications experience to the position. Colleen has worked as a marketing manager for an international packaging equipment manufacturer and as an events and marketing manager for regional non-profit organizations. Earlier in her career she worked in magazine publishing in New York City and Northern VA.
Colleen has a BS in Marketing from the University of Scranton and a certificate in Website design from Penn State University.

Colleen Reardon

Natalie Dippenaar

Executive Director

Member since 2023

Natalie holds an MBA, a B.Comm.Hons. (Marketing, Strategic Business Management), B.Sci (Computer Science), and is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) with nine years’ experience in association management and five years as the general manager of a wine bar. In addition, she holds a WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits (Level 4), is a Certified Sherry Wine Specialist from the Consejo Regulador of D.O. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, an Advanced Ambassador from Wines of Portugal Academy and a Doppel Member of the Wine Century Club. She recently completed her Spanish Wine Scholar with Honors through the Wine Scholar Guild and hopes one day to walk the Camino Frances through Northern Spain. She is currently working on her Certified Specialist of Spirits through the Society of Wine Educators.