Coca-Cola UNITED

UNITED Executives Receive Accolades

Pamela Neal
newspaper cover
Birmingham Business Journal Cover, January 24, 2020 edition.

Birmingham Business Journal recognized a number of Coca-Cola UNITED leaders recently in its first-ever “Executives of the Decade” issue, with UNITED Chairman of the Board, Claude Nielsen as one of the executives featured from the Birmingham area.

“The 2010s saw Coca-Cola UNITED post significant growth under Nielsen’s leadership, expanding its territory and rising to No. 2 on our list of largest private companies.”

Kate Nielsen, was also recognized as one of the Executives of the Decade for her decades-long tenure as President of Community Foundation of Birmingham.  The BBJ had this to say about Kate, “Many say Nielsen redefined what a community foundation can be – from the creation of Community Catalyst funds to support of Railroad Park.”

In addition, Fred McCallum, who serves on UNITED’s Board of Directors as well, was recognized as an Executive of the Decade!  As quoted from the article, “McCallum has been a major corporate CEO and a champion for education, and he ended the 2010s as interim leader of the BBA as it reinvents itself for a new decade.”

Furthermore, John Sherman, UNITED’s Chief Executive Officer, was named an “Executive to Watch for the Next Decade,” and very recently, Coca-Cola UNITED was recognized as a “Company of the Decade,” by the BBJ, stating that we are one of the companies “that helped define the decade in the Magic City’s business world.”

Excerpt from the BBJ, issued January 31, 2020
From the BBJ, “A decade ago, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. ranked 8th on the Birmingham 100 list of the area’s largest private companies with $683 million in revenue. Ten years later, the bottler ranked #2 with $2.81 billion in revenue, thanks to a series of territory acquisitions as Coca-Cola revamped its bottler network.”

In the words of our Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, Linda Sewell, “How great to be part of such an amazing organization and in the company of extraordinary leaders!  Congratulations to all!”