Carlyse Ciocca is the granddaughter of the intrepid Italian immigrant Teresa Franzia, who in 1933 borrowed $10,000 to turn her husband’s grape and cherry farm into a full-blown winery. Teresa Franzia gave half of the loan proceeds to her son-in-law Ernest Gallo — who would go on to build the E&J Gallo Winery and employ a young marketing employee named Arthur Ciocca. That small loan, collateralized with the family's assets, now represents over 60+ percent of the wine business in the United States.

Carlyse graduated from Santa Clara University in 1977 with a degree in Business Administration. Carlyse is president and co-trustee of the Arthur and Carlyse Ciocca Charitable Foundation which focuses its giving on promoting entrepreneurship and offering scholarships to promising young students with leadership and entrepreneurial potential. 

Carlyse met her late husband, Art, shortly after he led a leveraged buyout of Coca-Cola’s winemaking operations in 1981. Art had been the head of marketing for that division. He rose to become President of Coca-Cola's wine group, and bought it when he learned Coca-Cola was divesting the unit. 

Shortly thereafter, he was introduced to the woman who would become his wife, Carlyse Franzia, whose family started one of the wineries at the heart of Coca-Cola’s operation: Franzia Wines. Carlyse married Art eight months after they met, and she became the family “quarterback” as The Wine Group grew to become the second-largest wine producer by volume in the world, behind only Gallo. 

Ms. Ciocca is now President of the Carlyse and Arthur Ciocca Foundation, the mission of which is to support and advance entrepreneurship and education. Art and Carlyse Ciocca are the founding donors of the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship.