Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida Appoints Richard Booth to Newly-Created Role of Vice President – Strategic Account Development

MIRAMAR, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida (SWS-FL), a division of the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. (Southern), announced today the appointment of Richard Booth to Vice President-Strategic Account Development for the State of Florida. This appointment is effective August 1, 2011, and Booth will report directly to SWS-FL Executive Vice President-General Manager Steve Power.

According to Power, “Richard brings over 30 years of industry experience to this new, key customer-facing role. Shifting Richard’s focus statewide toward ways for Southern to better partner with and serve key on- and off-premise accounts, should enhance the success of these key accounts — which can only have a positive impact on Southern’s success in the marketplace. I have had the privilege of working side-by-side with Richard throughout his career in Florida, and the entire Florida Division looks forward to benefiting from Richard’s vast wine and spirits industry experience, sales and marketing talents, business instincts and boundless energy.”

Commenting from a Southern Corporate perspective, Executive Vice President-General Manager Brad Vassar added, “Richard is one of the best sales professionals I have ever seen in dealing with customers. He is highly creative and always goes the extra mile to take care of customer needs. Focusing him in on our key accounts in Florida makes a great deal of sense, and we are confident he will create tremendous value for both our key customers and suppliers.”

The process to select a successor for Booth’s prior role as VP-General Manager of Southern Wine & Spirits of South Florida has been initiated.

About Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc.

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. is the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor and broker with operations in 35 markets. On a national basis, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. employs more than 11,000 team members. For more information, see: http://www.southernwine.com.