Lance Avery Morgan
Success Stories Often Begin With Ambition. Adriel Lares’ Story Begins With Something Deeper… Gratitude
Photography courtesy of Adriel Lares
Today, Adriel Lares serves as chief financial officer of Chelsea Football Club, one of the most recognized sports organizations in the world. He is also co-founder of the acclaimed Napa Valley wine label Memento Mori, a steward of the historic Edge Hill estate, and a board member of the Vida Valiente Foundation, which supports first-generation Stanford students. Yet despite a career that spans London boardrooms, Silicon Valley innovation, Napa Valley vineyards, and international sports, Lares remains grounded by the values he learned in Alvin, Texas, according to our all-things-Texan Lance Avery Morgan.
Growing up around the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area, the son of Mexican immigrants in a modest home shared with parents, siblings, relatives, and extended family, Lares never viewed his circumstances as limiting.
“I observed my father getting up early every day for work no matter the weather or his health,” Lares recalls. “I also observed how my mother, grandmother, and aunt not only cared for us but welcomed neighbors and fellow church members with platefuls of food. What I took from that house: be kind and serve others; look after your own; and when times are hard, keep going.”
Those lessons would become the foundation for a life that continually stretched beyond the boundaries of what many imagined possible.
A First-Generation Leap
As the first person in his family to attend college, Lares viewed higher education as both an opportunity and a responsibility.
“Pretty early on in my childhood, I recognized that culturally I needed to adapt to the fast-changing world around me,” he says. “For me, that meant a college education was a requirement even if I didn’t fully grasp why.”
When he arrived at Stanford University, excitement quickly mixed with uncertainty. “I definitely felt a combination of wonderment and intimidation,” he says. “Immediately, I held two thoughts in my mind: you have an incredible opportunity in front of you, and despite the hard work to get here, I may not be prepared for it.”
Following a difficult freshman year, Lares nearly chose not to return. “I realized that the only thing I could control was the decision to keep going,” he says. “That was a direct line back to my family in Alvin and the resilience I tried to emulate.”
That decision would alter the trajectory of his life.
The Power Of Mentors
Lares is quick to point out that no journey happens alone. Among the mentors who shaped him were high school counselor Maria Bustos, Alvin Community College professor Sharon Hicks, swim coach Lenny Garcia, and immigration attorney George Rodriguez, whom he met through the Lorenzo de Zavala Youth Legislative Session.
“All of them were incredible mentors,” Lares says. “They shared the ability to challenge youth when they needed it and knew when to support them with encouraging words at other times.”
The impact of those relationships remains central to his philosophy today. “Every time they spent that time with me, they unlocked a worldview or shattered a naïve notion that moved me forward,” he says.
That understanding ultimately led him to become involved with the Vida Valiente Foundation, which provides financial support and mentorship opportunities for first-generation Stanford students.
Living A Real-Life Ted Lasso Story
When Lares accepted the CFO role at Chelsea Football Club and relocated to London, life began to resemble a television script. “I definitely laughed out loud” when comparing his story to Ted Lasso, he says. “I literally mirrored the main character’s life.”
Arriving in London in 2023 with only luggage while his wife and three children remained in the United States until the following year, Lares found himself navigating a new culture, a global sports institution, and a city steeped in history.
“I watched the show intentionally before I arrived,” he says. “It was a bit surreal to walk through the Chelsea Director’s Box the first time and remember the same hallway in a Ted Lasso episode.” Yet the role itself presented far more significant challenges than any television plotline.
“When the ownership group took on Chelsea, they inherited circumstances where the club’s assets had effectively been frozen by the UK government and had to operate on a special license,” Lares explains. “All of the senior staff from the previous era were gone, and in effect, we had to start from scratch.”
The work required rebuilding infrastructure, creating new systems, and helping establish a sustainable future.
“I’m proud of how far we have come,” he says. “The Club World Cup experience was a great capstone, but the view internally is always to ‘Win the Next Trophy.’”
Common Threads Of Excellence
What links elite sports, technology finance, and luxury wine?
According to Lares, the answer is surprisingly simple. “The discipline is the same: separate what you can control from what you can’t, then put your energy into the part you can.”
Whether supporting athletes, software engineers, or winemakers, his role centers on creating the conditions for others to thrive.
“It’s about trying to provide as much operational and financial flexibility so the R&D, sporting, or winemaking talents can do their thing,” he says.
Building Memento Mori
Long before he became a global sports executive, Lares developed a fascination with wine.
The spark came during a day trip to Sonoma with friends shortly after college.
“That trip allowed me to ask some questions and get revealing and inviting answers,” he recalls. “By the end of that day, I was hooked.”
Years later, those experiences evolved into Memento Mori, the celebrated Napa Valley winery he co-founded with childhood friend Hayes Drumwright and designer Adam Craun. The winery’s name emerged from Drumwright’s battle with cancer and the Latin phrase meaning “remember you will die.”
Yet Lares embraces a different interpretation. “We choose to interpret that as ‘remember to live,’” he says. That philosophy extends beyond the bottle itself.
“A wine is born in a vintage, ages, and ultimately it will die,” Lares explains. “When I wrote ‘Remember to Live,’ it’s also a nod to remembering to drink the wine while it is alive.”
Philanthropy runs through the family of brands. Drawing on the lessons of building Memento Mori, Hayes Drumwright and his wife, Susana Cueva Drumwright, founded Vida Valiente Winery, a sister label to Memento Mori, alongside the Vida Valiente Foundation, which supports first-generation college students. The vision was shaped by the stories closest to them: Susana and Lares are both children of immigrants and were the first in their families to attend college. Vida Valiente’s flagship wine, The Movement, donates $100 from every bottle sold to the Foundation. Lares serves on its board, and from the outset the Foundation’s work has centered on Stanford students, where he now helps students walking the same road he once did.
Honoring History At Edge Hill
Today, Lares is helping steward another significant chapter in California wine history through Edge Hill, one of Napa Valley’s oldest and most storied estates.
“Living and working in London provides me with constant reminders of the history of places,” he says.
For Lares, the opportunity represents something larger than business. “We humans are ephemeral by nature, but we have the opportunity to leave legacies via the impacts we have on people and places.”
He views ownership not as possession, but stewardship. “For Edge Hill, we get to finish the restoration Joel Gott and Leslie Rudd had begun,” he says. “Once complete, it will be our honor to reintroduce Edge Hill to the world.”
A Texan At Heart
Despite his global accomplishments, Texas remains the lens through which Lares views leadership.
“The Texan habit that travels best is treating everyone you encounter the same, regardless of rank or title,” he says.
Whether interacting with players, executives, security staff, or operations teams, respect remains non-negotiable. “I carry my Texan identity not in my accent but in my welcoming nature,” he says. “A smile when I see everyone, and a directness softened by warmth.”
For Lares and his wife, Yvette, those values are now being passed to the next generation.
“Alvin, Stanford, San Francisco, Napa, London; they’re all on the same line for me,” he says. “Knowing where you’re from matters.”
The Next Link In The Chain
When asked what he hopes his story ultimately represents, Lares returns once again to the people who helped him along the way.
“What I hope it says is that nobody gets anywhere alone,” he says. He points to the mentors, teachers, coaches, friends, and family members who believed in him long before the world knew his name.
“The line from Alvin to Stanford to London to Napa Valley looks improbable from the outside, but every inflection point on it has someone’s name attached,” he says. For young Texans wondering whether their dreams are too ambitious, his message is straightforward.
“No one is suddenly successful,” Lares says. “It almost always takes time and effort, and those two compound in ways that are hard to see when you’re 18.”
His advice is equally practical. “Say yes to the things that scare you a little. Apply to the summer program. Take the extra class. Sit down with the mentor when they offer.”
And perhaps most importantly… “We all can become a link in the chain to the next.”
For a boy who once shared a small home in Alvin with multiple generations of family, that chain has stretched remarkably far, from Texas to Stanford, from Napa Valley to London, and from personal success to purposeful service. Yet its strongest link remains the same lesson he learned long ago: when times are hard, keep going.
10 Things To Know About Adriel Lares…
- He grew up in Alvin, Texas, as the son of Mexican immigrants.
- He was the first person in his family to attend college.
- He earned admission to Stanford University despite early academic challenges.
- He nearly left Stanford after a difficult freshman year but chose to persevere.
- He serves as CFO of Chelsea Football Club in London.
- He jokingly describes his life as a real-world version of Ted Lasso.
- He co-founded the highly regarded Napa Valley winery Memento Mori.
- He helps steward the historic Edge Hill estate in Napa Valley.
- He serves on the board of the Vida Valiente Foundation, supporting first-generation Stanford students.
- He believes mentorship is one of the most powerful forces in creating opportunity.
