Nicole Egede Paustian

After receiving her Masters from Copenhagen Business School, Nicole Egede Paustian started working as a management consultant at the Copenhagen office of The Boston Consulting Group. “I was with BCG for eight years and had a fantastic time. I learned a lot and got a fully loaded toolbox of all types of analysis. I saw many different companies and worked on numerous different topics. I had my main focus at the time on consumer goods and FMCG, but being in Copenhagen covering all of Denmark, we had many international clients as well, and I also worked with several different industries as part of that. I loved my time with The Boston Consulting Group, but after eight years, I wanted to join a company that I could feel passionate about.

“At that time this opportunity to join the family business came along, so I joined Taster Wine three years ago. The company was founded by my grandfather in 1946. He did a great job with the company, but unfortunately he died, too early, in 1986. At that time, my father and my uncle were already very active in the company and all of their education had been revolving around wine. Ever since 1986 they have been running the business, both in a CEO position, where they have been sharing the responsibility but have had different focuses within the company.”

Nicole is seen as director of the company, but she notes the fluidity of titles and positions when dealing with a family business transitioning between generations. “I could be called director, I could also be called a lot of other things, but the truth is that together with my father, my uncle, my cousin, and our CFO, we comprise the executive management of the company. So we share a lot of roles, and I’m taking over some of the areas my father has been managing over the years. The same is happening with my cousin, who is also taking over more and more from my uncle.”