For Immediate Release Contact: Larry Goodrich
EVP-General Manager
Southern Wine & Spirits of New York
Telephone: (516) 730-3110
Southern Wine & Spirits of New York
Promotes Shai Froelich to role of
Vice President & General Manager-Lauber
For the State of New York
New Role to Jointly Report to Mark lauber, President of Lauber Imports and
Larry Goodrich, Executive Vice president-General Manager of
Southern Wine & Spirits of New York State
Syosset, New York, February 2, 2008 – Southern Wine & Spirits of New York’s Executive Vice President-General Manager, Larry Goodrich, along with Lauber Imports President, Mark Lauber, are pleased to announce the promotion of Shai Froelich to the newly-created position of Vice President & General Manager-Lauber for the State of New York. This promotion is effective immediately, with Mr. Froelich reporting both to Mr. Goodrich and Mr. Lauber.
Mr. Froelich, with 29 years of experience in wine and spirits distribution, started his career with Southern Wine & Spirits of South Florida in 1980. His extensive knowledge of wine sales and service was most recently tapped in his role as Sales Manager-Wine On-Premise for Southern Wine & Spirits of New York. William Regan, a member of the Southern Wine & Spirits of New York team since 2005, will be taking over Mr. Froelich’s former role.
Mr. Lauber commented, “In taking on this role, Shai will manage the day-to-day operations of Lauber’s fine wine sales and marketing efforts across the State of New York for both the on- and off-premise channels. I, in turn, will concentrate more of my time on the key strategic areas of supplier relations and portfolio/brand strategy. I look forward to working closely with Shai, and believe that his new role will enable us to distinguish the Lauber portfolio even more in the highly-competitive New York wine market.”
For his part, Mr. Goodrich added, “Shai, Mark and I have been working very closely in recent months to make Southern Wine & Spirits of New York and the Lauber portfolio the leader in the New York State fine wine market. This promotion formalizes how we have operated for some time—and ensures that Mark continues to keep our brand owners well served as Shai focuses his energies downstream on superior customer support and service.”
“I am extremely honored to be selected for this exciting opportunity,” added Mr. Froelich. “Lauber Imports is already positioned well as the leading fine wine portfolio in the most dynamic wine market in the world. I look forward to being on one of the world’s most prestigious wine “stages” with an intense “spotlight” focused on us. I am confident that—along with Larry, Mark and my team of skilled professionals—we will continue to elevate the level of performance in this challenging environment.”
About Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc.
Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. is the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor, with operations in 28 states. The multi-state distributor currently operates in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia—and the additional six states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming through its Southern Wine/Spirits West partnership. In addition, SWS has announced two additional pending strategic arrangements—one with Glazer’s in the Central United States and one with The Odom Corporation involving the aforementioned Pacific Northwest states plus Alaska—that would result in an incremental 9 markets to SWS’ present footprint. On a national basis, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. employs more than 10,000 team members. For more information contact: www.southernwine.com.