Chris Cota
Position

Chris joins the board as a 15 year Benzie County resident who followed a zig-zagging path by way of the University of Verona in Italy , where he studied history and ski racing, which led him to Germany as a ski instructor. After returning to the States, a commercial real estate partnership led to a career as a futures trader in Chicago . When he relocated his wife and four children to Benzie County he tired of the commute, missing family time. He started Westwind Woodworking which specializes in fine woodworking and building specialties such as staircases and handrails.

He is an avid bicyclist and is the lead guitar player in the Sub Prime Blues Band. He also coaches the Benzie Central ski team. A true renaissance man, he is undertaking a new agricultural direction in Benzie County : the cultivation of wine grapes. He planted five acres of Riesling vines last year on his land near Frankfort , with plans of commercial production in a few years.

“I want to take on issues that are nearer to my heart. I want to give back to the community,” he says. “I can’t complain about ‘no resources’ if I’m not doing anything to preserve them.”

He feels the Conservation District’s value to grape growers is to serve as a consultant for advice about choosing the best sites, and care and management of the vines.

“It’s a very scientific process,” he says. “It’s not just stick the seeds in the ground and watch them grow.”

Can he make money?

“I don’t know yet,” he says smiling.

Benzie Conservation District
Board of Directors

Chris Cota	Stephen Fouch	Cheryl Kobernik	Doug and Sally Cook