BARRY SCHULER

Barry Schuler shares his ideas for mapping the wine grape genome.

Serial entrepreneur Barry Schuler made his reputation and fortune in Silicon Valley, where in 1989 he and his wife launched a pioneering interactive multimedia company to focus on the interaction between people and computers. One of their first clients was “a little company called America Online.” After serving several top positions at AOL, Schuler became Chairman and CEO after the Time Warner merger in 2000.

In 1996, the Schulers bought a 35-acre hilltop parcel in Coombsville, east of the city of Napa. There they planted a 22-acre cabernet vineyard and eventually began to produce their own wine—made by Dawnine and Bill Dyer, partners in the enterprise— under the Meteor Vineyard label. Also in Napa, the Schulers founded the Blue Oak School, the area’s first non-denominational independent school.

Schuler is currently a managing director of the DFJ Growth Fund and director of Raydiance, Inc., pioneers of the world’s first desktop ultra-short pulse laser, which adapts military technology for consumer use. He also serves as a Director on the Boards of Raydiance, Inc., Hands-on Mobile Entertainment, Synthetic Genomics, Inc., UBMatrix and UUSEE, China’s leading provider of Internet TV Services. He will be speaking about his ideas for mapping the wine grape genome.