Kathryn Walt Hall

Kathryn Walt Hall, proprietor of HALL Wines and WALT Wines, has been involved in the California wine industry since her family first purchased a vineyard in the 1970s. She has had a distinguished career as a successful businesswoman, attorney, community activist, and as the U.S. Ambassador to Austria.

Kathryn and her brother managed their family vineyard from 1982 to 1992. She began her public career as assistant city attorney in Berkeley. Later, she joined Safeway Stores, where she developed and administered one of the nation’s first and largest affirmative action programs. Subsequently, she worked as an attorney and businesswoman in Dallas, where she was president of an inner-city development company and partner of Hall Financial Group.

Kathryn has served on numerous nonprofit and institutional boards, addressing issues related to social care and mental health. She co-founded the North Texas Food Bank, served on the U.S. House of Representatives Hunger Advisory Committee, and was the director/vice president of the Texas Mental Health Association. She served on the National Advisory Council for Violence Against Women and as a trustee of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

From 1997 to 2001, Kathryn served as the U. S. Ambassador to Austria. In 2001 she was appointed to the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for international trade and to Texas One, promoting international investment in Texas.

Kathryn earned a degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, a joint MBA from UC Berkeley and Columbia University, and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. Together with her husband Craig, they have four children. Kathryn joined Festival Napa Valley’s Board of Directors in 2012, and serves on the Executive Committee.