Mr Pete Eshelman – Chairman

Pete’s 40+ year business career spans professional sports, sports & entertainment insurance, the culinary industry, and farming specializing in Wagyu.

Upon graduation from Williams College in 1976, Pete was drafted by the New York Yankees, and went on to work in the Yankee Front Office for the legendary Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, an exciting time in 1977 as the Yankees won the World Series.

Pete took Steinbrenner’s idea to ensure multi-year guaranteed player contracts and turned that idea into a 35 year insurance career where he founded two sports insurance companies which were later sold to publicly traded companies.

In 1996, Pete and his wife Alice, established a private dining facility to confidentially entertain their sports/entertainment clients. In 2000, this private facility was opened to the public as Joseph Decuis, a gourmet dining restaurant. Shortly thereafter, Wagyu was featured on the menu and became a sensational hit. On a journey to learn about Wagyu, Pete travelled to Wagyu farms in America and ultimately to Japan. He established a Wagyu herd on his farm as a vertically integrated operation solely for the purpose of offering its own farm raised Wagyu on their restaurant menu.

Pete has been very committed to the Wagyu industry with the perspective of both a producer and a restaurateur. He has been a member of the American Wagyu Association since 2007 and is a member of the Australian Wagyu Association. He served as President of the American Wagyu Association in 2019 and 2020. He is an active speaker and writer promoting the Wagyu breed. Upon retiring as President of the American Wagyu Association, he was elected as Chairman and CEO of the World Wagyu Council.

Pete is very passionate about the enormous potential for Wagyu. He truly believes Wagyu is a revolutionary breed that will dramatically improve the quality equation of beef worldwide.

His favourite saying is “There is no limit to the good a man can do if he doesn’t care who gets the credit.”