E. Lloyd Sobel Appointed Chief Operating Officer
May 1, 2017
Breakthru Beverage Group today announced a restructuring of its Executive Leadership Team. A key change made is the creation of a Chief Operating Officer role, which will be filled by E. Lloyd Sobel. In this position, Sobel will oversee North American Sales, Commercial, National Accounts and Business Services leadership roles, functions and teams. He will report directly to Breakthru President and CEO, Greg Baird.
Sobel joined Breakthru Beverage Group last November as Executive Vice President, Commercial Development and served as CEO/President of Empire Merchants in New York prior to then.
Baird commented, “As Breakthru continues to grow, we cannot rest on what we have accomplished. We must continue to challenge ourselves to ensure we are best situated to deliver execution, operational and brand building excellence for our suppliers and customers.”
He added, “Lloyd’s extensive knowledge and experience will be instrumental in our continued efforts to establish consistent standards of excellence and accountability throughout our U.S. and Canadian business.”
In this new role, Sobel will offer a united voice from Breakthru to our suppliers and customers and be responsible for optimizing company-wide sales and commercial functions to drive exceptional performance.
“Breakthru is committed to excellence and achieving our goal of being the leading beverage company in North America. I am excited and honored to continue to play an active role in that mission and to work even more closely with our commercial leaders,” said Sobel.
Reporting to Sobel are Bob Catalani, newly appointed to the South Region President position, West Region President Joe Marotta, Midwest Region President David Lockie, East Region President Kevin Dunn, and in the new role of Canada Region President, Julian Burzynski.
Also reporting to Sobel are Kevin Roberts, EVP Supplier Relations, and EVP of Commercial Excellence Brian Albenze who is assuming additional responsibilities, including National Accounts and Business Services.
Reporting directly into Baird are EVP United Division Kevin O’Neil; Ann Giambusso, EVP/Chief Human Resources Officer; Arlyn Miller, EVP/General Counsel; Gene Luciana, EVP/Chief Financial Officer; Art Wirtz, EVP Corporate Operations and IT; and Maggie Lapcewich, in the new position of EVP Corporate Strategy and Communications.
Lapcewich’s new role represents a significant milestone for Breakthru Beverage Group. Since the merger of its legacy companies, she has overseen all aspects of the integration. Having now moved beyond this phase, she will turn her attention to internal and external strategy.