Southern Glazer’s has announced the appointment of Ray Lombard to the new role of Executive Vice President and General Manager, Craft Spirits, effective July 1, 2021.
In this new role Lombard will drive the strategy for Southern Glazer’s artisanal and craft spirits portfolio. This includes overseeing the Company’s new craft spirits division across the country and leading all craft spirits sales and support functions as part of Southern Glazer’s new SG+ enhanced customer service, fine wine and craft spirits strategy.
In addition to these responsibilities, Mr. Lombard will manage craft spirits supplier onboarding, contracts, management, marketing, and performance, and continue to direct Southern Glazer’s highly successful fleet advertising program. Lombard will report to Gene Sullivan, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer
“Craft spirit brands are part of a thriving sector that drives significant innovation in our industry,” said Gene Sullivan. “During Ray’s tenure with Southern Glazer’s, he’s played a key role in identifying, onboarding and growing some of the most successful supplier brands in our portfolio. I couldn’t think of anyone better to lead the efforts on our enhanced craft spirits strategy and ensure Southern Glazer’s continues to be the distributor of choice for the next generation of diverse and exciting spirit brands.”
Most recently, Mr. Lombard held the role of Executive Vice President, Supplier Management & Business Development for Southern Glazer’s. In this role, he managed many of the Company’s strategic supplier relationships and oversaw its Multicultural Center of Excellence, which creates impactful, volume-driving multicultural commercial activation programs supporting supplier brands, regions, and customers.
He joined the Company in 2005 as the Vice President of Marketing and Sales Planning for Florida and continued to take on roles of increasing responsibility in both sales and marketing functions. Prior to joining Southern Glazer’s, Mr. Lombard served in various sales and marketing positions with Bacardi USA. He has a Master of Business Administration in Management from the University of Miami and a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management from Florida International University.
Lombard is currently a member of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) Access Advisory Council. WSWA Access serves as a hub for craft, start-up and small production wine and spirits, and is an initiative that will feature expert guidance, resources and best practices to help brands navigate industry challenges and identify opportunities to get to market.
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits is a distributor of beverage alcohol. The multi-generational, family-owned company has operations in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Canada.
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