Curtis Mann Recognized with Alumni Association's 2025 Distinguished Achievement Award

Double Aggie alumnus Curtis Mann BA 02 MBA 06, now one of about 50 Master of Wine and an executive at Albertsons Cos., has been a leader in the wine business for more than two decades. 

For his contributions to the industry and his dedicated time and effort to the Graduate School of Management (GSM) through his service on the Alumni Board, Mann has been named the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Achievement Award from the GSM Alumni Association.

He will be honored with the award at the Evening of Excellence event on June 1, where the association will recognize two other alumni awardees.

Wine Business Changemaker

Mann started his career in hospitality at ZD Wines in the Napa Valley, where he first discovered his passion for wine. After graduating from the UC Davis Full-Time MBA program, Man joined Trinchero Family Estates as a brand manager and then was named director of wine and spirits insights at Information Resources Inc.

Then Mann made the pivot to managing wines in the grocery business. From 2013 to 2020, Mann served as director of alcohol and beverage for Raley's, a 125-store specialty supermarket chain in California., where he re-shaped the chain's wine offerings leading to a significant growth in sales over his time at the chain. 

In 2020 he was appointed group vice president of wine, beer and spirits for Albertsons Companies, where he oversees the wine, beer
and spirits buying operations for 2,200 stores.

"The UC Davis Graduate School of Management's helped me excel in my career because it has helped me look at things from a different perspective. It's given me the opportunity to look at big and small problems from a very tactical perspective and also very strategic. Everything from the cost of production, to sales techniques, to marketing and I felt like the MBA program was the perfect place to learn that."

— Curtis Mann BA 02 MBA 06

The wine press has recognized Mann's efforts with several awards. He is the only person to win Wine Enthusiast's Wine Star Award for Retailer of the Year twice (once for Raley's and once for Albertsons). He was also named one of the most influential people in the wine industry by Wine Business Monthly in 2020 and Market Watch's Retailer of the Year in 2022.