You may be one of many who start their day with a quote shared by local businessman and sales guru – Tom Black – when you receive his daily emails. Or you may have had the privilege of purchasing or wishing to purchase, one of his stellar bottles of wine donated to events like the Nashville Wine Auction. You probably wrote or cashed a check in the last several decades, in which case, you too have had some association with the man who is Tom Black. His phenomenal business success story is paralleled with his fascination for, and love of wine, which has led to a collection rivaled and admired across the world.
With a cellar at one time, consisting of more than 60,000 bottles of great wine, Black has formed one of the largest and most well-rounded collections in the United Sates. He also has created two wines with Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climate, only made available through charity wine auctions like Nashville Wine Auction.
Tom Black has a long track record of success as a business leader in the banking industry. He has led several top companies, providing innovative marketing and technology solutions for the industry. If you’ve ever used an ATM, signed up for a premium checking bank account, or have seen images of your checks on your bank statement, then you’ve seen some of Tom Black’s handiwork. Tom has been a co-founder or founder of
several start-ups, and he currently he runs the Tom Black Center for Excellence which customizes sales training and coaching services for companies of all sizes. He has written several books including the wildly popular Boxcar Millionaire.
When asked what began his love affair with wine, he answered that he had been encouraged by his boss to know wine so that he could entertain clients. After a weekend trip to Napa Valley in 1986, he, himself, fell in love with wine, and has taken that love to a whole new level of collecting and appreciation. Tom has been a National Board member in the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a Chambellan in the Ordre de Côuteaux, the highest rank a non-Champagne producer can achieve, and was chosen as one of six collectors to participate in the Millennium wine project for the Smithsonian Institute. He has written over 200 published articles on wine and has a free wine app - TomBlackWine.com. As one of the world’s most knowledgeable and well-known wine experts, Tom Black has been featured in international food and wine magazines and is highly respected among celebrity chefs and winemakers alike. “The greatest people on the planet are wine collectors. I’ve met self-made billionaires, famous chefs, and lots of famous personalities,” Black says of his life in the world of wine.
But Tom’s passion doesn’t extend merely to the well poured glass at a celebrity wine dinner. He has used his passion for wine as a cause, Tom has raised millions of dollars for charities across the country. Tom Black’s knowledge of wine and generous spirit has made him a favorite son of the wine community around the country and of course, especially in the Nashville area.
So, what helps create such a wine aficionado? Here are a few of Tom Black’s wine words of wisdom:
• First wine book: Michael Broadbent’s Wine Tasting.
• Most exciting bottle ever bought: 1961 Petrus in double magnum. “I bought it in New Orleans from the Windsor Court cellar for $17,000. I sold it fifteen years later for $35,000 and got to drink it with the buyer. Best of all worlds,” he says.
• Advice to a novice wine collector: Go to every tasting you can. Nothing replaces experience.
After a lifetime of success and tremendous respect and recognition in the business world, Black knows that life is meant to be savored in more ways than work. A love of wine and a lifetime spent learning and collecting has led him to note: “Wine is another food item on the plate. It enhances the dining experience. It encourages conversation. It makes us relax. Wine is proof God loves us.”
Meet Tom Black
Owner, Tom Black Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence
In college, Tom worked for the Southwestern Company of Nashville, Tennessee. Southwestern employs thousands of college students each summer to sell books door-to- door. Based on his success in sales (number one for three successive summers), Tom became a sales manager at Southwestern.
Tom then joined FISI*Madison Financial and successfully ran the sales organization. Tom grew sales from $2 million to over
$350 million. Tom left FISI*Madison to start Private Business, Inc. Under his leadership as CEO, Private Business grew into the country’s leading provider of accounts receivable programs for community banks. Tom served as CEO for six years and took the company public in May of 1999. Tom was the first employee and the only CEO until the company was sold.
In January 1999, Tom purchased Tecniflex/Bancsource, Inc. Tom formed a sister company, Imagic Corporation, that develops and supports check-imaging systems to community banks. As CEO, Tom expanded both companies from small regional providers to national sales and service organizations. Imagic grew quickly, merged with OSI and went public. Under his leadership, Tecniflex/Bancsource has gone from twenty-seven employees to almost 500 serving 4,000 banks in forty-nine states.
Tom also co-founded Ncontracts, now the leading provider of vendor compliance and risk management for financial institutions. Ncontracts serves over 900 financial institutions nationwide.
His most recent venture is the Tom Black Center for Excellence.
The Tom Black Center for Excellence, a member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), offers customized sales training and coaching services to national clients of all sizes in a wide range of fields. To learn more about Tom Black go to tomblack.com.
Black by Black
“Black by Black” was inspired by arguably the top wine collector in the world, Tom Black, and the L.A. Times Winemaker of the Year, Jim Clendenen from Au Bon Climat Winery. The winemaker selected only the finest grapes from their 300 acre ranch in Santa Barbara County to create a special meritage wine that has won several blind tastings and been scored a perfect 100 points. This wine is a combination of 40% California Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 20% Petit Verdot to produce a bold and balanced red wine. This wine is incredibly rare. Only fifty cases were produced and are presently available to the public only at charity auctions.
