Co-founders leave Appellation AmericaSan Francisco Business Times - by Chris Rauber

Co-founders Roger Dial and son Adam Dial have resigned from their management and board roles at Appellation America, an online wine publication that celebrates various appellations or wine-growing regions nationwide, according to a published report and sources at the publication.

Roger Dial released a statement Monday citing “irreconcilable differences with the lender over programs and corporate structure, and the constriction on working capital,” according to Wine Business.com, an online trade publication.

Tom Welch, a major investor, board member and company treasurer, told the San Francisco Business Times on Tuesday that he will fill in temporarily as CEO, and that Roger King, who’s been in charge of marketing and advertising for Appellation America, will head operations in its Napa office. Welch confirmed that he is the lender Dial referred to in his statement to Wine Business.com.

In an email to staffers, Welch said he and his wife and co-investor, Anne Lambert of Chester, Nova Scotia, would run the publication. “We had hoped to continue with Roger and Adam on the staff but they have chosen to move on at this time,” Welch told staffers, calling Roger Dial the publication’s “founder and visionary,” and crediting the Dials for much of its success to date.

Welch said the web site’s main goals in coming months will be to continue with its Best-of-Appellation and Direct-Marketing Partnership programs, develop advertising and content sales (under Roger King’s direction) and maintain its online publishing activities.

Roger Dial was a co-founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of the online publication; Adam Dial was managing editor. As of Dec. 2, neither were listed on the Appellation America web site’s list of company contacts. No information about the change in management at Appellation America was posted on the site.

“We are going forward,” Welch told the Business Times Dec. 2. “It came down to a focus on business and revenue. We lost focus on the fact that we were running a business, not a charitable organization.”

Roger Dial could not immediately be reached for comment on the management changes, which Welch said “happened precipitously” on Dec. 1.

Alan Goldfarb, a senior editor at the publication, said Welch assured him on Monday that the company would go forward without the Dials, and that it would have “a much more comprehensive business plan” going forward. Goldfarb said he has high hopes for Appellation America. “I’m looking forward to making this a successful web site.”

The company, launched five years ago, had offices in San Francisco and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, until recently. It moved its Bay Area office to Napa about a year ago. The Lunenburg office is where the Dials were based.