Southern Wine & Spirits of California Strengthens Senior Executive Team

Steve Harden Appointed to New Executive Vice President, Sales Role

Patrick Daul Appointed to New Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy Role

UNION CITY, Calif.--()--Southern Wine & Spirits of California (SWS-CA) — a division of Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. (Southern), the nation’s leading wine and spirits distributor — today established a new Sales and Marketing executive team structure. SWS-CA Executive Vice President, General Manager Jack Brennan announced two new, senior, statewide roles to bolster SWS-CA’s route-to-market management and innovation. Brennan has appointed long-time SWS-CA Senior Vice President, General Manager (Northern California) Steve Harden to a new role of Executive Vice President, Sales for the state. Brennan has expanded Patrick Daul’s current role with Daul’s appointment to Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy. Both Harden and Daul will report directly to Brennan.

Elaborating on his new executive team structure, Brennan said, “I could not be more confident and excited to have Steve and Patrick supporting our continued commercial leadership in the California marketplace through these two new roles. Steve will draw on his 33 years of industry commercial experience, and will have the Southern and American Wine & Spirits (AWS) statewide selling organizations reporting to him. Patrick will extend and deepen his current executive transformation role, bringing commercial best practices and leading tools to bear for our trading partners.” Brennan continued, “As the dynamic California marketplace continues to evolve, Steve, Patrick and I will be at the forefront of ensuring that Southern Wine & Spirits of California maintains and grows its leading wholesaler status across the state for brand building and retail customer service alike.”

In their new roles, Harden and Daul will be partnered closely with Brennan in guiding the strategic direction of the commercial side of the business for the state. Harden’s background includes several sales leadership roles of increasing responsibility over the last 25 years at Southern, and he will lead a team focused on day-to-day commercial execution that will be comprised of the following: Vice President, General Manager (Southern California) James Bradney; Vice President, Commercial Finance Steven Burrows; Vice President, General Manager of American Wine & Spirits Jon Newlon; and Vice President, General Manager (Northern California) to be announced. Harden has been married for 32 years to his wife Barb, and they have two adult children, Kate and Joe.

In his new role, Daul will coordinate with Southern’s corporate capabilities in the areas of Strategy, Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), National Accounts, Direct Marketing and Talent Management to lead Southern’s route-to-market innovations for the future. Daul draws on over 20 years of experience at Southern for this role — with his career path taking him through all three California selling divisions in leadership roles of increasing responsibility. Daul is married to Nancy and they have four children — Andrew, Eric, Shauna and Cody.

Southern Wine & Spirits of America’s Executive Vice President, General Manager Brad Vassar added, “The combination of experience, skills and leadership qualities among Jack, Steve and Patrick are truly remarkable. Steve brings many years of engaged, successful sales leadership performance to the table in California — building great relationships, motivation, effectiveness and loyalty throughout the ranks he has led. Patrick brings leadership experiences from every Southern selling division in California — along with his passion for innovation — to ensure Southern Wine & Spirits of California will continue to expand the boundaries of productivity, growth, efficiency and service quality.”

Both appointments will be effective January 1, 2014, and the successor for Harden’s current position will be announced later this year.

About Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc.

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. (Southern) is the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor and broker with operations in 35 markets. Southern currently operates in the following markets: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming. Southern also holds operating licenses and permits in Nebraska and Texas. On a national basis, Southern employs over 14,500 team members. Southern urges all retail customers and adult consumers to market, sell, serve and enjoy its products responsibly. For more information about Southern and its responsible consumption program, see: http://www.southernwine.com.

Contacts

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc.
Lee Schrager, 305-625-4171
Vice President, Corporate Communications

Release Summary

Southern Wine & Spirits of California (SWS-CA) strengthens senior executive team to bolster route-to-market management and innovation.

Contacts

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc.
Lee Schrager, 305-625-4171
Vice President, Corporate Communications