Contact: Cassandra Mickens, Coca-Cola UNITED
CassandraMickens@ccbcu.com
(205) 612-6779

For Immediate Release

Coca-Cola UNITED Announces Division Vice Presidents 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (March 18, 2024) – Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. (UNITED) has announced it will elevate its eight Division Directors to Division Vice Presidents effective immediately. Coca-Cola UNITED’s Division Vice Presidents are:

• Chris Alack, Louisiana Division
• David Gulledge, North Alabama Division
• Darren Hodges, Tennessee Valley Division
• Victor Ragland, Atlanta Division
• Jack Sherman, Savannah River Division
• Keith Watson, Sun Coast Division
• Rocky Weigand, Gulf States Division
• Steve Wood, Southern Pine Division

“Our Division Vice Presidents lead a significant part of our business that directly impacts the long-term success of our company,” said Mike Suco, President and CEO. “We are grateful for their knowledge and leadership as they oversee a large portion of our associates, revenues and customers, and touch almost every aspect of our business.”

Chris Alack has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Louisiana Division, headquartered in Baton Rouge. The Louisiana Division is comprised of  approximately 1,500 associates and six sales centers in Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe and Shreveport Alack has spent most of his career at Coca-Cola UNITED, joining Lafayette Coca-Cola in 2000 after graduating from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. After seven years as a Business Development Manager, he led local key account teams on the retail side of the business. Alack returned to Coca-Cola UNITED in 2015 as Regional Key Account Director following a stint at Shop Rite/Tobacco Plus convenience stores. He went on to become Sales Operations Manager and Sales Center Manager at Lafayette Coca-Cola before assuming the role of Louisiana Division Director in 2022.

David Gulledge has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s North Alabama Division, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala. The North Alabama Division is comprised of approximately 774 associates and six sales centers in Birmingham, Carbon Hill, Cullman, Florence, Oxford and Tuscaloosa. Gulledge began his career with Coca-Cola UNITED in 1995 and served as Birmingham Coca-Cola’s youth and education key account manager during his first four years with the company. He went on to hold various customer management roles, including key convenience retail and supermarkets. Gulledge was named Birmingham Coca-Cola sales center manager in 2007 and later accepted a position as key account director.  He most recently served as director of the North Alabama Division.

Darren Hodges has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Tennessee Valley Division, headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn.  The Tennessee Valley Division is comprised of  approximately 500 associates and four sales centers in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia – Chattanooga, Scottsboro, Alabama, and Jasper and Rome, Georgia. A Chattanooga native, Hodges has been with Coca-Cola UNITED for nearly four decades, always in the Scenic City – the home of the world’s first Coca-Cola bottler celebrating its 125^th anniversary this year. He started his career as a material handler and went on to hold positions as a forklift operator, small store merchandiser, business development manager, on premise manager and retail sales manager. Hodges most recently served as director of the Tennessee Valley Division.

Hodges is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting. He also has a long history of community engagement, including leadership and board affiliations with the Beverage Association of Tennessee, Future Ready Institute, Fund for Excellence, Leadership Hamilton County Schools Cohort, United Way of Greater Chattanooga and  Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce.

Victor Ragland has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Atlanta Division, headquartered in Atlanta. The Atlanta Division is comprised of approximately 2,100 associates and five sales centers in Atlanta (North Metro and South Metro), Athens, Gainesville and Lawrenceville.  Ragland began his 35-year career with Coca-Cola in 1988 in Oxford, Alabama as a merchandiser with Coca-Cola Enterprises – the former bottler arm of The Coca-Cola Company. He proceeded to hold many frontline positions such as delivery route salesman, relief salesman, account manager, local key account manager and business development manager. Since 1994, Ragland has held a variety of management roles, including leading the Oxford and Macon, Georgia Coca-Cola sales centers. He joined Coca-Cola UNITED in 2017 as director of the Atlanta Division after the company acquired the Atlanta market territory.

Jack Sherman has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Savannah River Division, headquartered in Savannah, Ga. The Savannah River Division is comprised of nearly 1,000 associates and nine sales centers in Savannah, Augusta, Brunswick, Macon, McRae, Milledgeville, Statesboro, Tifton and Waycross.  Sherman began his career with Coca-Cola UNITED as a summer helper in Statesboro while attending Georgia Southern University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in finance in 2004. In 2005, he completed an accounting and sales internship at Savannah Coca-Cola. Sherman returned to Coca-Cola UNITED in 2013 as a large store account manager after pursuing a career in financial planning.  He went on to become a merchandising supervisor, then sales center manager in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Sherman was named sales center manager in Chattanooga, Tenn.  in 2016 before being promoted to director of the Savannah River Division in 2021.

Keith Watson has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Sun Coast Division, headquartered in Pensacola, Fla. The Sun Coast Division is comprised of  more than 900 associates and seven sales centers in Florida and Alabama – Pensacola, Panama City, Tallahassee, Valparaiso and Leroy, Mobile and Robertsdale, Alabama.

Watson began his career with fellow bottler Coca-Cola Consolidated in 1997. In his 26 years with the Coca-Cola System, Watson held various positions including route driver, route supervisor, cold drink manager, full-service manager, home market area sales manager, key account manager, director of retail sales for the North Carolina East Region and director of retail sales for the Alabama and Mississippi Region. Watson went on to serve as sales center manager in Leroy, Mobile and Robertsdale, Alabama, and most recently served as director of the Sun Coast Division.

Watson’s civic and community involvement includes service on several boards in the Gulf Coast region. He currently serves as Board Chairman of the Alabama Beverage Association. He also actively volunteers for the nonprofit Young Life, the Wounded Warrior Project, Samaritan’s Purse and Backpack Buddies.

Rocky Weigand has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Gulf States Division, headquartered in New Orleans, La. The Gulf States Division is comprised of approximately 1,100 associates and six sales centers in Louisiana and Mississippi – New Orleans and Gulfport, Hattiesburg, McComb, Natchez and Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Weigand is a 24-year veteran of the Coca-Cola System. In 2000, he joined Coca-Cola Enterprises – the former bottler arm of The Coca-Cola Company – as director of Walmart and went on to hold various positions with increasing responsibility. In 2016, when Coca-Cola UNITED acquired the New Orleans territory, Weigand was appointed director of the company’s former Crescent City Division. In 2018, Weigand assumed his most recent previous role as director of the Gulf States Division.

Steve Wood has been named Vice President of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Southern Pine Division, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala. The Southern Pine Division is comprised of approximately 700 associates and five sales centers in Alabama and West Georgia – Montgomery, Auburn, Dothan, Evergreen and Columbus, Georgia. After attending the University of West Georgia, Wood began his Coca-Cola career in 1985 as a part-time merchandiser in Atlanta. He went on to hold various roles in the Coca-Cola System, including district sales manager, human resources manager, sales center manager, market unit director and Alabama market unit vice president. Wood also served as director of Coca-Cola UNITED’s Sun Coast Division, based in Pensacola, Florida, and was instrumental in transitioning the Sun Coast Division territory to Coca-Cola UNITED in 2014 and 2017. He most recently served as director of the Southern Pine Division.

–  Stand UNITED –

About Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc.

Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc., founded in 1902 and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is the second largest privately held Coca-Cola bottler in North America and the third largest bottler of Coca-Cola products in the U.S.  Now with its fifth generation of family working in the business, Coca-Cola UNITED has more than 10,000 associates located in more than 50 facilities across six southeastern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee). Historically significant franchises within our Coca-Cola UNITED family include Chattanooga, the world’s first Coca-Cola bottler; Atlanta, home of the worldwide Coca-Cola System; and Columbus, Georgia, development site of the original Coca-Cola formula.

Coca-Cola UNITED is engaged in the production, marketing, and distribution of a diverse portfolio of leading sparkling (Coca-Cola®, Diet Coke®, Coke Zero Sugar®, Dr Pepper®, Sprite® and Fanta®) and still (smartwater®, vitaminwater®, Dasani®, POWERADE®, BODYARMOR®, Fairlife®, Gold Peak®, Monster® and Minute Maid®) non-alcoholic brands under exclusive franchise agreements principally with The Coca-Cola Company®, Keurig Dr Pepper® and Monster Energy Company®.

For more than 120 years, Coca-Cola UNITED has remained true to its foundational core values of Quality, Excellence, Integrity and Respect.  Local relationships, personalized customer service and strong community engagement have been the foundation of our business for more than a century.  Each year, millions of dollars are invested in our local communities, supporting education, community development, sustainability and nonprofit organizations that empower and impact those in need. Learn more at cocacolaunited.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).