Lulie Halstead. Image courtesy The Gérard Basset Foundation

Effective immediately, Lulie Halstead has been appointed interim CEO of The Gérard Basset Foundation by Foundation trustees Nina Basset, Romané Basset, Jancis Robinson, and Ian Harris.

Gérard Basset (7th March 1957 – 16th January 2019) OBE MS MW MBA OIV MSc ASI World Champion was regarded as one of the greatest wine professionals on the planet. He was the first and only person to hold the Master of Wine qualification simultaneously with the Master Sommelier, Bordeaux KEDGE Wine MBA and the OIV.

The Gérard Basset Foundation was founded to fund education, learning, and career opportunities for young wine, spirits, and hospitality professionals with a focus on increasing global diversity, equity, and inclusion. Since The Gérard Basset Foundation was created in 2021, it has awarded more than £2 million in scholarships and grants around the world.

Halstead is the founder of Wine Intelligence, now a division of the IWSR Group. With a background as a wine marketing academic, she has remained committed to academic learning and teaching, including on the Wine MBA at Bordeaux Business School and on wine master’s programmes in the USA, Italy, Chile and Australia. She joined the board of Trustees of The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) in 2021.

Halstead shared a particularly personal connection to Gérard Basset as she was his thesis supervisor for his Wine MBA.

“Gérard was humble, curious, determined, diligent and above all, wanted to expand his knowledge, and ultimately share that with others,” Halstead said. “He had many mentors in his life, and he was determined to pay that forward by mentoring others.”

On behalf of The Gérard Basset Foundation, co-founder Nina Basset added: “We are delighted to appoint Lulie as our interim CEO who will support all of our efforts to raise awareness with a clear focus on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the wine, spirits, and hospitality industries.”

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