About
The person behind PDG
A Sandwich, Illinois digital advisor for the winery industry...one person, on purpose.
I’m Tom, and PDG is a solo practice built on 40 years in an industry that doesn’t tolerate guesswork. I spent my career in corporate and business aviation. Maintenance, customer service, and sales for aircraft operators across the United States, Canada, and many other countries. That work taught me two things that define every PDG engagement: documentation is the only proof that matters, and the relationship is more important than the transaction.
I grew up on a dairy farm in Michigan, where I learned early that equipment either works or it doesn’t, and the difference is usually disciplined maintenance and hard work. I’ve also been a left-leg amputee since age 22, using crutches full-time. That gives me a particular perspective on accessibility that informs how PDG approaches digital work for wineries, so when I talk about accessibility, I’m not reading from a script.
After four decades in aviation, I retired to Sandwich, Illinois, and started PDG because the winery industry needed what aviation solved a long time ago: a way to make invisible work visible, and a partner who owns the outcome instead of handing you a bill and walking away.
Companies and private individuals who pay millions for a private business jet expect nothing less than top-notch service. So why shouldn’t a winery owner, who is providing a service to their customers? Shouldn’t they be able to provide a concierge-style service that they become known for? PDG is here to help them do that behind the scenes.
How does aviation apply to wineries?
In aviation, when something goes wrong in the air, you can’t just pull over. Everything that happens during maintenance, before a flight, during a flight, and after a flight is documented. No one just assumes that things were done. Assumptions can lead to mistakes, which can lead to disasters.
Checklists are used. Discrepancy reports are used. Everything is documented, and logbooks follow that aircraft from its birth and beyond. It documents every inspection, every part that was replaced, every test flight, every discrepancy closed out, and it’s all documented, dated, and signed. In fact, a well-documented logbook can help to determine the value of that aircraft.
While a winery isn’t an aircraft, assumptions can lead to disastrous situations just as they do in aviation, and they can be very costly for that business.
Loss of data, missed orders, down websites, potential customers that can’t make contact, things that don’t work the way they should.
A winery owner can’t tell real isolated hosting from a $10 shared account, but his customers can.
A winery owner doesn’t know whether their website and backups have ever been restored, or whether they’d be available when really needed.
A winery owner doesn’t know if his website is accessible to potential customers with disabilities, or if that website widget, or the website itself, puts them at risk for an accessibility lawsuit.
PDG applies the aviation standard to winery digital work. Every audit produces an Inspection Record. Every project produces a dated Squawk List with closeouts. Every Care Plan produces quarterly Restore Test Certificates and Care Reports. The Standard of Care captures the full commitment.
Why wineries?
The winery industry is full of smart operators running lean businesses on tight margins. Most have no in-house digital staff. Most rely on a patchwork of providers who don’t talk to each other and don’t own the outcome. And most are carrying somewhere between half and two-thirds of their revenue on a website nobody is actually protecting.
That’s the gap PDG fills…not as a volume agency serving hundreds of clients, but as a deliberately small practice with a premium standard and a first-name relationship. Corporate aircraft operators didn’t hire the cheapest maintenance shop; they hired the one they trusted to keep their people safe. PDG is built to be that kind of partner for wineries.
How PDG works
- Solo operator, deliberately few clients. PDG is not an agency. If I take on your work, you have my full attention, and if I can’t serve you the way the Standard of Care requires, I’ll tell you up front.
- Premium standard, not commodity pricing. Isolated hosting, proven backups, maintained accessibility, documented records. That discipline can’t be delivered at a commodity price, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
- Everything leaves a record. If you eventually sell your winery or hand it to the next generation, the records go with it. The Standard of Care names each one.
- You own everything. Domains, DNS, hosting accounts, licenses, code, content…all in your name. You stay because the work is good, not because leaving is painful.
- A named person who answers. When a Care Plan client picks up the phone, they’re calling me. Not a ticket queue. Not an account manager who rotates every six months.
It's not a Service. It's a Partnership.
In corporate aviation, the customers who trusted me weren't buying maintenance transactions. They were buying a relationship with the people who kept their equipment safe to fly. That's exactly what PDG is designed to be for the wineries who choose to work with me.
When I met a new customer or prospect, I told them I didn't want them to see me as a salesperson; I wanted them to look at me as a problem solver and a partner. I always took an active interest in their operation and never saw it as "just another sale".
Where PDG serves
PDG is based in Sandwich, Illinois, in the middle of the Midwest wine region. Proactive outreach focuses on wineries within driving distance of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, and Iowa, where I can meet you in person, walk the property, and speak at your regional association events.
For wineries outside the Midwest, PDG delivers remotely. Audits, accessibility inspections, Care Plans, and pre-buy inspections are all fully deliverable nationwide, and the Standard of Care doesn’t change with the zip code. If you’re in California or Virginia and you reach out, I’ll take the call.
This two-speed model works because PDG is designed for quality, not volume. I don’t need hundreds of clients…I need a small number of the right ones.
Start with a free visibility call
Just 20 to 30 minutes, looking at your winery's website in real time. I'll point out one or two concrete gaps. Not a sales pitch, and if an audit isn't the right next step, I'll tell you.
Book the free call