Ellen Milne

Ellen Dierberg Milne has a passion for education and entrepreneurship.  She owns and oversees Dierberg and Star Lane winery and vineyards in Santa Ynez and Hermannhof winery and vineyard in Missouri, a microbrewery, and her family-owned bank based in California and Missouri, as well as cattle and ranching operations in Santa Barbara and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  

Ellen is fourth generation owner of First Banks, Inc. where she is Vice Chairwoman of the Board and a member of the Charitable Impact Committee that focuses on next-generation education for those in need in the communities First Bank serves. 

Ellen started Tin Mill Brewing Company in 2006, the only microbrewery in the German town of Hermann, Missouri.  She is also a trustee for the endowment of the Living History Farm of Hermann which demonstrates American farming life in the 1860s. It includes a cooperage, distillery, a Shire draught horse breeding operation, and many restored historic homes and buildings on the bluffs of the Missouri River. 

She holds an economics degree from Denison University and Level 2 Wine & Spirits Education Trust certification.  

Ellen was born and raised in St Louis, Missouri where each of her five children were also born. They now attend USC, Thacher School, and Laguna Blanca. She loves her three dogs and the family horses. She and her husband, Mike, split their time between Jackson Hole, Montecito, and St. Louis.