Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, one of the largest independent Coca-Cola bottlers in the U.S., has promoted Thomas N. Benford to president and chief operating officer. In this new role, Benford will oversee end-to-end commercial operations including planning, customer management, field sales, product supply, risk management, sustainability and facilities management.
He previously served as the company’s EVP and chief commercial officer.
“As an early member of the team, Thomas has played an instrumental role in the formation, growth and expansion of Coke Florida. His leadership has been invaluable to the execution of our strategic vision over the years, helping to build what is now one of the fastest growing businesses in Florida. The changes we are now making to our organizational structure will allow us to better partner with our customers and serve our consumers,” said Troy Taylor, Coke Florida’s chairman and CEO.
“Coke Florida will continue to build on its solid foundation, developing strong partnerships and innovating the way we interact with our customers and consumers. We will also continue our commitment to being a strong contributor to the Florida economy and the communities where we operate,” Benford said.
Benford’s career includes tenure with the Halliburton Co., where he served as marketing and development manager of Baroid Fluid Services and corporate finance manager. Prior to Halliburton, he was an investment banking analyst in the leveraged finance group at J.P. Morgan Chase. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and bachelor’s degrees in economics and computational and applied mathematics from Rice University.
Coca-Cola Beverages Florida is a family-owned independent Coca-Cola bottler. Coke Florida’s exclusive sales and distribution territory covers more than 20 million consumers across 47 Florida counties and includes the major metropolitan markets of Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Coke Florida markets, sells, manufactures, distributes and merchandises more than 600 products of The Coca-Cola Co. and other partner companies.
The company is the third-largest privately held and the sixth-largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S. The company is also one of the largest Black-owned businesses in the U.S. Coke Florida was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
