Stephen Baum is a member of the National Wine Committee of the Confrérie des Chevaliers due Tastevin and in that capacity has visited Burgundy every November for the past 12 years to taste with growers and to buy wine for the events of the more than 40 chapters of the Confrérie in the United States. An avid wine collector, cook, and music lover, he is a former member of the tasting panel for The California Grapevine, a wine publication. He is past President of the San Diego Chapter of the International Wine and Food Society. He is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of San Diego based Sempra Energy and lives with his wife in Exeter, New Hampshire and La Jolla, California, USA.