Donald Plumley

Summary

Donald Plumley is a Partner with Sage Partners and co-founder/co-owner of Soliste winery. He is an active advisor, director, investor, and mentor to startups, scale-ups, and grownups to drive best practices to accelerate growth and create sustainable value for founders, investors, and employees. Across Don’s 30-year career as advisor and executive, he has successfully grown, repositioned, acquired, and divested companies in multiple industries around the world. As Chairman, CEO, and President of Elanex, he orchestrated the sale to a New Zealand strategic acquirer. As a management consultant to a medical & energy advanced materials technology R&D company, he helped build the initial go-to-market commercialization plan that resulted in the first customers and the ultimate acquisition by a Japanese buyer. He served as VP/GM of Polycold (NASDAQ: IMGC), a manufacturer of cryogenic cooling systems. There he recruited a new management team, directed the lean manufacturing/ISO certification, oversaw record revenue and profitability growth, and sold the division to Helix Technology (NASDAQ: HELX). ​ At Bowne Global Solutions (NASDAQ: BNE) he was the SVP/CMO for a roll-up in the translation industry and was responsible for global marketing, sales leadership, and corporate development for an enterprise with 31 offices in 26 countries with 2,000 employees and 10,000 freelance contractors encompassing 10 acquisitions/integrations around the globe. Don’s real-world experiences help management close the gap between idea and results to drive growth. In addition to Don’s corporate and consulting career, he is a successful entrepreneur, starting his first company in his early twenties in the Sales Force Automation field. As a startup founder, he raised capital, built a team, scrapped for customers, and learned the indelible lessons of failure, repositioning, and rebirth. He is an active advisor/mentor for a number of startup companies, serves on the Board of Directors of Fresh Victor, an LP in an early-stage venture fund, and a MentorNet Advisor for the UC Davis Venture Catalyst program.​ Donald holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson with an emphasis on international business and a BS in Physiology from the University of California Davis.