Ted W. Hall

Ted is an entrepreneur and business leader with deep experience in agriculture, wine, specialty foods, food service, consumer products, and retailing. He is a frequent panelist and speaker on sustainable farming practices, especially on the science and economics of organic farming.

Ted is Co-Founder of Long Meadow Ranch, an innovative group of family-owned companies producing grapes and ultra-premium wine, olives and extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed beef and lamb, and fruits and vegetables, using diversified, organic, and sustainable farming methods.

Established in 1989, the businesses, which include three wine estates, have farming operations in northern California on more than 2,500 acres in Napa, Marin, Mendocino, and Humboldt counties. Long Meadow Ranch is among the pioneers in California of organic viticultural practices and the re-establishment of extra virgin olive oil production.

Long Meadow Ranch operates a sustainable food, wine, and agricultural education destination located in St. Helena, CA, which is anchored by the acclaimed farm-to-table restaurant, Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch.

Ted is currently chairman and founding director of Progenco, Inc., established in early 2021, which is positioned to be the world’s leading producer of bovine progeny at scale. With In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) technology, the company enables under-utilized dairy cows to produce high-value calves for both beef and dairy uses. By eliminating the conventional cow-calf operation necessary to produce a calf, the company achieves dramatic reductions in cattle production costs as well as substantial environmental benefits.

Ted is the former chairman and founding director of Sunfed Ranch, the country’s largest producer of grass-fed beef, which merged with Teton Waters Ranch in 2022 to form Grass-Fed Foods (GFF)
From 2010 to 2021, he was a director of Basic American, Inc., a company privately owned by San Francisco’s Hume family, which is the world’s leading producer of dehydrated potatoes, beans, and other specialty foods.

Ted served as a director of Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc. (NASD: PEET), the premier specialty coffee and tea company in the United States, and as a director of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM), the leading kitchenware, specialty foods, and home furnishings retailer in the United States.

Ted is a former chairman of the board of The Robert Mondavi Corporation (NYSE: MOND), a global producer of fine wines. Following a strategic review led Ted, the company successfully merged with Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) to create the world’s largest wine producer.

An accomplished trombonist, Ted has pursued his musical interests throughout his career. In 1977, he co-founded and led a 17-piece big band in San Francisco, known as the Midnight Rounds. In 1993, he co-founded the independent jazz record label, Monarch Records, which became part of Tambourine, Inc., in 1999. He continues to perform professionally with local ensembles, including the LMR Jazz Orchestra.

Acknowledged for records he creatively produced, Ted has been a long-time voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which grants the GRAMMY© Awards. He served as the chairman of Tambourine, Inc., a specialty music production and distribution company, and as a director of Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB), a leading provider of technology to the global entertainment industry.

As a former senior partner of the global consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, Ted has more than 25 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, working with chief executives and boards of directors of Global Fortune 50-size companies in the areas of strategy and organization.

As a co-founder, and later chairman, of the McKinsey Global Institute, he has spoken and written in many forums on the nature of the evolving global economy. Sharing worldwide leadership for the firm, he served for twelve years as an elected member of McKinsey’s board of directors.

Ted holds a BSE degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He has served on the boards of directors of a wide range of educational and civic organizations, including the Foundation for Teaching Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business, SFJAZZ, San Francisco Symphony, and Frost School of Music (University of Miami).

An avid sailor, Ted has sailed competitively for more than 40 years in ocean and inland events on the West Coast, including the Transpac. He owns and races the classic 58-foot wooden cutter, Bright Star sailboat. He is a member of the St. Francis Yacht Club, the Transpacific Yacht Club, and the Master Mariners Association.

Born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where he lived on a small hobby farm in nearby Potter Township, Ted and his wife, Laddie, now live at Long Meadow Ranch in the Napa Valley where they also keep Haflinger draft horses.

Ted is a director of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers, a former member of the Napa County Local Food Advisory Council, a former director of the American Highland Cattle Association, a past president of the Highland Cattle Foundation, and a former member of the Board of Visitors and Fellows of the Department of Enology & Viticulture at the University of California at Davis. He is also the chair of the Agricultural Education Advisory Committee for the St. Helena School District.

Ted is the recipient of the 2017 Grower of the Year Award from the Napa Valley Grapegrowers and the 2013 Acre by Acre Award from the Land Trust of Napa Valley. In 2015 Ted served as chair of the Agricultural Protection Advisory Committee (APAC), a 17-member commission appointed by the Napa County Board of Supervisors to address issues involving agricultural land use in Napa County.

Learn more about Ted in his memoir Tell the Truth and Do the Right Thing.