Luxco Sales Restructure
Luxco recently restructured its sales department, which has meant a reshuffling of roles within the team. The department has been divided into three units – East, West and Control States – led by Brian McEnany, Jason Maxwell and Rick Przebieda, respectively. Ryan Earey has been promoted to National Sales Manager and Dan Streepy, Executive Vice President– Sales, will now focus on International and National Accounts.
“We’re trying to grow and develop more business,” Dan says. “Luxco is evolving and changing, and we’ve recognized that we haven’t put enough resources behind international business and the national account channel.” The restructuring is an effort to address that issue.
Ryan agrees, “The key to this change is that we’re investing in more people and preparing for future growth, and the organizational changes will help enhance what we are currently doing to service our distributor/broker partners and retail customers.”
Ryan’s new role will be overseeing sales execution of the company business plan as it relates to cases and margin volume expectations, and in the coming months he’ll be focused on continuing the transition to the new sales structure and meeting with current customers to develop initiatives that will promote the growth of Luxco’s priority brands.
Dan will concentrate his efforts on developing Luxco’s international distribution network for the portfolio as well as continuing to expand the portfolio in the national account channel. He notes that the national account teams will be an important part of that process.
Restructuring and changes can sometimes be tough, but Ryan says that the DM’s, State Managers, FMMs, staff in the office and production have been very supportive of these changes right from the beginning, which has helped tremendously.
Rick Przebieda, who joined Luxco nine years ago and is now Business Unit Leader for the Control States, adds that the new structure makes “perfect sense” for the Control States. “For the nature of the business, particularly with control states, which are a bit of a different animal, this is the best way to structure your sales force.”
Rick says his main focus in the coming months will be working with his team, as many of the members are new to Luxco. “We’re building a team atmosphere, getting them to know the new business … and working on selling something!”
Jason Maxwell, the Business Unit Leader for the West, says of his position, “The role is newly created, so it’s a work in progress. I’ll be working with the seventeen open states in the west, from Louisiana to Hawaii. I look forward to working more closely with division managers and getting to know our distributors better. It’s an exciting role.”
Ryan adds that he’s excited to see the sales team – and Luxco as a whole – capitalize on current opportunities for growth. He believes that the investment that Luxco is making by strategically adding people to the sales team will help the company be more informed about the current marketplace and allow quicker reaction to customers and opportunities.
Brian McEnany is the Business Unit Leader for the East, which encompasses the New England, Eastern Shore, North Central, and South Central divisions, as well as Indiana and Florida.
“I think it’s a great new challenge for me,” Brian says. “I’ve been with the company for eighteen years, and this will be different – the position is really about managing the division managers. I’m looking forward to meeting all the players at the wholesale level.”
In the coming months, besides making decisions about allocations and budgets, he’ll be concentrating on the fast start program and the top five or six focus brands. “But the overall driver will be hitting our numbers,” Brian adds with a laugh.
The Business Unit Leaders are the ones taking on a lot of new responsibility, and doing it with enthusiasm, according to Ryan. “They deserve a lot of recognition.”