Board
David Suro
Born and raised in Guadalajara, Jalisco David immigrated to Philadelphia in 1985. Excited to showcase the food and spirit of his homeland, he opened Philadelphia’s first upscale Mexican eatery, Tequilas Restaurant, in 1986. It has since become world-famous for serving authentic cuisine as well as offering a list of over 80 brands of fine 100% Agave tequilas.
As a restaurateur and a tequila aficionado, he was determined find the highest quality tequila. This quest propelled him to develop and produce his own boutique tequila brand, Siembra Azul — a small batch, artisanally crafted super-premium tequila, which is made from only the finest blue agave.
David Suro has made his life’s work telling the story of tequila and agave distilled spirits. Since launching Siembra Azul in 2005, he has worked tirelessly to make Siembra Azul a symbol for quality, transparency and ethical business practices. After 9 years of setting an example and challenging the consumer, David Suro has expanded creating Siembra Spirits.
Rodrigo Medellín
Rodrigo Medellín has dedicated his life to the study and conservation of mammals in Mexico. He is Senior Professor at the Institute of Ecology, UNAM, and has directed over 50 theses and dissertations and has produced over 200 publications on bats, jaguars, conservation issues, and more. His H factor is 39 and over the past 5 years he has produced 22 peer reviewed indexed papers. Rodrigo is most comfortable when in the field with his students or cooking for whomever is around. He has projects or students in 16 countries of four continents. His research contributes and orients policy and decision-making processes in conservation. He was President of the Society for Conservation Biology (2013-2015). He was the first head of the Mexican Wildlife Department in 1995. For ten years he represented North America in CITES and has been advisor to the Mexican Federal Government on wildlife issues since 2000, constantly being an official member of the Mexican delegation to CITES meetings. Rodrigo is Co-Chair of the IUCN Bat Specialist Group and created the Latin American Bat Conservation Network (RELCOM). He has been associate editor for Conservation Biology, Journal of Mammalogy, ORYX, and Acta Chiropterologica. Since 2016 he is a member of the Board of Review Editors of Science Magazine. He has received several awards such as Mexico´s National Conservation Award 2004, Rolex Award for Enterprise 2009, the Whitley Gold Award 2012, and others. In 2014 BBC Natural World produced the multi-awarded film The Bat Man of Mexico (narrated by David Attenborough) covering Rodrigo´s work on bats. In 2018 National Geographic produced the film Giant Carnivorous Bats with Rodrigo Medellin and his work is featured in the National Geographic Magazine of July 2018.
Ignacio Torres
He studied Biology at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo and obtained his masters and doctorate from the Institute of Research in Ecosystems and Sustainability within the Postgraduate of Biological Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His research has revolved around the comprehensive study of the use and management of wild plant resources from different perspectives such as: floristics, ethnobotany, population ecology, pollination biology, in order to generate useful information bases for sustainable management of species of interest and more specifically he has worked with different species of Agaves mezcaleros in different states of the country.
Emilio Vieyra
Studied Zoothecnic Veterinarian in 2002.
Founded the Maguey Producers of Morelia Association in 2007 from which he was president until 2013.
He had secretary chair of the Union of Mezcaleros of Michoacán from 2008 until 2012.
President of the Sistema/Producto Maguey Mezcal in Michoacán from 2014 to 2016.
He is the sixth generation of mezcal producers and Managing director of Mezcal Don Mateo since 2012.
Salvador Rosales
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in a Tequila producer family. The family business is located in the low land region in El Arenal, Jalisco with three generations working in the Tequila industry. Salvador started working in the production area, expanding to the commercial area because he is very interested in giving first-hand information on the product from its origin to the bottle including technical details that are not always easily transmitted or understood by the consumers such as the importance of tradition in Tequila production and the social and cultural responsibility.
During his short experience in the industry he’s participated actively by being the president of the consejo de jovenes tequileros (young tequila producers council) in the Cámara de la industria tequilera. In his aim to understanding better and foremost the different methods of production within the industry, he studied in the first generation of the Master of tequila processes, in which he still participates as a member of the Technical commitee for development and improvement.
Preserving the tradition and the responsibility in the agave distillates production while keeping authentic and sustainable practices in all the productive chain while promoting a responsible agriculture in benefit of the agave and its environment is his philosophy.
Pedro Jiménez Gurría
Pedro is a visual artist that uses experimental film and documentary as his tools . He has developed his own reflexive and nostalgic language where he talks about the human essence. His work has been screened in different film festivals in several countries as Korea, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Peru, Chile, United Kingdom, Spain and of course, Mexico.
Besides his audiovisual work he has developed a network with maestros mezcaleros around Mexico. He started to study all about mezcales since 2005 and then, in 2009, opened a mezcaleria in Guadalajara called Pare de Sufrir… Tome Mezcal. At a controversial moment in agave spirits legislation, he directed the documentary Viva Mezcal with the intention of turning people’s eyes to the mezcal situation. Almost at the same time he started filming this documentary and seeing it wasn’t enough to generate a complete awareness of the mezcal culture, he opened a mezcal information and tasting room called Mezonte, also in Guadalajara. Under this name he created an organization where more than 17 producers can offer their agave spirits that before they just couldn’t.
He has given seminars, conference, tastings, screenings. He is active member of the Tequila Interchange Project (TIP) and board of the Bat Friendly Project. And he continues to make fair trade with mezcal producers and spreading the word and work for others that want to know and appreciate the agave spirits from Mexico.
Joaquín Meza
Joaquin Meza was born in the Mixteca Poblana, southern Puebla, at eleven years old, he and his family moved to the U.S. in Rhode Island. His family then opened El Rancho Grande, a restaurant of authentic Mexican food.
A few years later looking to offer a better experience he got to know Mexican agave spirits and started to learn about them, particularly about tequila, and the with the mezcal boom his curiosity grew more, this led him to offer only tequila 100% agave and artisanal production, as well as traditional mezcals (nothing below 40º). All of this with the intention to provide the consumers not only alcoholic beverages but also a glimpse to the vast culture that is inherent to these spirits.
Joaquin has been part of TIP’s board since 2017 in an effort to create consciousness in the hospitality industry about the obstacles that agave spirits are facing.