Couple to help oversee lucrative wine fest, again

NAPLES — The Naples Children and Education Foundation named Tom and Sandi Moran as the first couple to co-chair the prominent Naples wine festival two years in a row.

Jim and Laura Dixon will join the Morans as co-chairs of the 2016 Naples Winter Wine Festival. The Dixons own Haynes Corp., a manufacturer of automation machinery. Tom Moran is founder of Moran Edwards Asset Management Group, a money management firm in Naples.

The festival raised more than $12.5 million this year and $135 million since its founding in 2001. The foundation distributes the money raised to children's charities in Collier County.

“Our remarkable co-chairs bring a wealth of experience, creativity, and passion to everything they do, and we can't wait to see what's in store for 2016,” says Maria Jimenez-Lara, the foundation's CEO, in a statement..

Tickets to the event, limited to 580 guests, start at $10,000 per couple. A $25,000 package is also available that includes reserved seating for a party of four at a vintner dinner.