G&J PEPSI-COLA BOTTLERS - Key Persons
Bill began his career with G&J Pepsi in 2004 after a lengthy stint with Big Bear Stores, a Columbus-based grocery chain. Bill has served in several roles at G&J Pepsi including District Manager, Trade Development Manager, Director of Sales and Market Director. As a Market Director, he was responsible for retail sales in Central Ohio servicing such prestige partners as The Columbus Clippers, The Columbus Blue Jackets, The Columbus Zoo, COSI, The Columbus Crew and the Ohio State Fair. Bill attended Franklin University in Columbus and served 14 years on the Board of Directors of Members First Credit Union including seven years as Board President.
Brady began his career in the beverage industry in January 2000 when he joined G&J as a route sales trainee. After a short stint on the truck, Brady was promoted into a variety of field and key account management positions before being named Director of Sales in 2011. Given the opportunity to gain exposure to field management, he was named Market Director for G&J's Central Ohio territory in 2017 and administered the conversion of the selling and delivery system for the Columbus market in 2018. Brady's strong customer experience, analytical and strategic selling skills earned him the honor of the PepsiCo "Ring of Honor" Award in 2013. While working full time for G&J, he graduated with honors from Franklin University in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in marketing.
Job Titles:
- G & J Pepsi As the Vice President of Enterprise Resource Planning & Business Transformation
- VP of ERP & Business Transformation
Brian joined G&J Pepsi as the Vice President of Enterprise Resource Planning & Business Transformation in 2018 and has more than 20 years of experience in a variety of industries including banking, manufacturing, health care and IT shared services. Brian has a strong knowledge of supply chain, materials, logistics, warehouse management, sales, marketing, engineering, process improvement, and services and commercial operations. He has previously held senior leadership roles with General Electric, Hillenbrand, Siemens, AP Technology, Emerson Power Transmission, and Fifth Third. Brian holds a Bachelor's degree from University of Cincinnati and has certifications in ITIL (IT service management) and Lean Six Sigma.
Ed was named Senior Vice President of Field Sales for G&J in April 2022. Ed brings more than 25 years of experience in leading winning sales teams in the consumer products industry including leadership roles at Trident Seafoods, Soylent Nutrition Inc., DRY Soda Co., and CytoSport (Muscle Milk/Hormel.) No stranger to the Pepsi system, Ed previously had a 13-year career with PepsiCo and PepsiAmericas having served as Vice President of Sales and in several other key sales leadership positions. He led the Cincinnati, OH and Erlanger, KY sales teams and was the lead for the Kroger Cincinnati account. Prior to his Pepsi career, Ed was a beverage buyer for Speedway Convenience Stores. Outside of the office, Ed is a coach for youth sports programs and is a Safe Families member.
Job Titles:
- VP of Manufacturing and Quality Operations
Jeff comes to G&J Pepsi with over 25 years of leadership experience and a record of success at various food manufacturing organizations, as well as strong knowledge of TPM/Continuous Improvement in the manufacturing environment. He held leadership roles at RR Donnelly, Conagra Foods and T. Marzetti prior to joining G&J Pepsi. He has also had multi-site roles overseeing plants of 1,100+ employees with $400MM CAPEX investment and $1.0 billion in sales. His daily key leadership focus areas are Safety, Quality, Service and Employee Development. Jeff has degrees from North Central State and Ashland University and is a certified Continuous Improvement Green Belt.
Katie brings more than 25 years diverse career experiences including roles as a chief financial officer, chief accounting officer, and vice president of finance in various industries including food and beverage, retail, banking, and consumer marketing and packaging. No stranger to the bottling world, Katie spent more than a decade in the Pepsi system, starting with Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers (PepsiAmericas, Inc.) in Schaumburg, Illinois, and eventually participating in the PepsiCo acquisition in New York. Katie's roles at Pepsi included Director of Taxation, Director of Accounting, Director of Financial Reporting (external), and Vice President of Finance for Foodservice. Katie earned her bachelor's degree in accounting from Elmhurst University and a master's degree in business administration from Northwestern University. Beyond formal education, Katie is a language aficionado fluent in Spanish and speaks French and Italian.
Kristie Ferriell-Beck joined G&J Pepsi in July 2023 and brings 20 years of knowledge of consumer goods industries. Most recently, she has served as the Vice President of Human Resources for Idahoan Foods in Idaho Falls, ID. During her career, Kristie held a variety of store management roles at Kroger, as well as sales and training roles at Kraft Foods in the Greater Cincinnati area. During her 13 years at Kraft, she rose to the Head of HR for Foodservice, Exports and Kraft Foods Ingredients. Additionally, Kristie served as the Director, HR Business Partner at General Cable Corp. where she led a global business unit in Milan, Italy. She is an alumna of Miami University, Oxford, OH, and earned her Master of Science in Human Resource Management from Villanova University. She holds her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification.
Rick joined the family business in 1976 while also attending the University of Cincinnati where he received his BBA Degree in 1978. He has held multiple roles in the company including VP of Marketing, SVP of Marketing, SVP Marketing & Advertising before being named to his his current position. He is a member of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Association and Keurig Dr Pepper Marketing Committees. He managed our in-house advertising agency, G&J AdCo for more than 10 years. He helped with the launch of G&J's successful commercial printing division Middlestreet Graphics. Rick serves on the boards of the Ohio Beverage Association and Red, White and Boom Columbus.
Sam Payton joined G&J Pepsi in October 2017 as the Director of Marketing & Media, overseeing the company's in-house ad agency G&J ADCO. During her time with G&J Pepsi, Sam's role has expanded to encompass G&J Pepsi's Brand Development and Commercialization efforts. Previously, Sam served as the Vice President of marketing at Joseph-Beth Booksellers and served as Senior Director of Digital/CRM Marketing at Bob Evans. Sam is an alumna of Franklin University and has served on the Board of Directors for the Little Hercules Foundation since 2013.
Steve was born into the G&J Pepsi family in 1951 and joined as a working shareholder in 1983. He was a General Manager of the Hamilton location from 87 to 94 and was appointed to his current position of Senior VP of Operations and Planning in 1994. He is a member of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Association, OPCOM, and QUALCOM. Steve is also a current co-chairman of the board of directors. He holds a BA in Mathematics from University of Cincinnati, an MA and PhD in Mathematics from University of California, Berkley, and an MBA in Finance from University of Kentucky.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
Tim was named G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottler, Inc. CEO in October 2020. He has 28 years of experience within Pepsi bottling and corporate PepsiCo. Much of his career was spent managing markets across North America for PepsiCo and PepsiAmericas, plus early career and current management in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition to Sales and Operation experience, Tim was SVP of Foodservice with PepsiCo North America. Before joining G&J Pepsi, Tim also was an executive for Sysco, Inc and Barfresh Food Group. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Dayton. Tim is a board member with the Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Association (PCBA), American Beverage Association (ABA), and Dr. Pepper Bottlers Association (DPBA).
Job Titles:
- VP of Strategic Business Initiatives
After a five-year stint as a commercial mortgage underwriter and lending officer, T.R. joined the family business in 1988 and is a third-generation principal in G&J. He has held multiple roles in the company including sales operations manager, general manager (Columbus), and vice president of human resources and corporate administration. Since 2012, he has led the Office of Strategic Business Initiatives which, most recently, helped with the successful launch of G&J's commercial printing division, Middlestreet Graphics. T.R. is also the current co-chairman of the board of directors. Additionally, he is a member of the Pepsi-Cola Bottlers' Association (Active Board Director, Past Chair), the Blue System Council (PepsiCo's national franchise advisory group) and a board member for Ballet Met Columbus. He holds a bachelor's degree from Boston College.