Southern Wine & Spirits of New York Announces New Appointments to Strengthen Its Senior Wine Management Team

 SYOSSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Larry Goodrich, Executive Vice President, General Manager of Southern Wine & Spirits of New York, Inc., a division of Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc., today announced two strategic internal promotions plus a new appointment to add to the talent of New York’s wine management team. Brett Dunne will now serve as Vice President, General Manager, Wine, New York State; James Bonavita is appointed General Sales Manager, Wine, Metro New York; and John Gregory is promoted to Vice President, Business Intelligence, Wine. According to Mr. Goodrich, these appointments were effective as of September 15, 2009.

Commenting on these appointments, Mr. Goodrich said: “I want to congratulate Brett, John and James on their new roles. Each of these talented executives will continue and enhance our Company’s already top-performing wine management and sales teams in New York.”

Mr. Goodrich added: “Brett has demonstrated terrific leadership skills with our team members, supplier partners and our on-and off-premise customers. We are all very confident that he will continue to work to build Southern’s wine business in every corner of the state.”

Commenting on Mr. Bonavita’s appointment, Mr. Goodrich said: “James is well known in Metro New York for his passion for wine and his focus on his customer’s business, and I am delighted that he will be overseeing our critical Metro New York Market going forward. He and his entire wine sales team have been a tremendous asset to our overall efforts to extend our customers knowledge about our great portfolio of wines in New York State and throughout the world.”

Noting Mr. Gregory’s promotion, Mr. Goodrich said: “As the wine market continues to evolve, it is more critical to our success than ever before to have actionable business intelligence about the latest sales and consumer trends -– both on- and off-premise. I am very pleased that John will be heading up our efforts in this important area to grow our wine suppliers’ sales going forward.”

Mr. Dunne said: “I am extremely honored about my new responsibilities and I look forward to working closely with Larry Goodrich and our wine supplier partners to continue to build our statewide wine sales along with my colleagues at Southern Wine & Spirits of New York, Lauber Imports and Liberty Wine Selections.” With almost 20 years in the wine industry, Mr. Dunne previously served as Vice President, General Sales Manager, Wine, Metro New York, Southern Wine & Spirits of New York; he has a B.S. in Hospitality Management from Florida International University, Miami, Florida.

Mr. Gregory, a 20-year wine industry veteran, previously served as Director of Pricing, New York State, Southern Wine & Spirits of New York. He is a graduate of Colgate College, Colgate, New York and also has a Diploma from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, London, England.

A 10-year wine industry veteran, prior to his appointment, Mr. Bonavita most recently served as a senior sales executive at a major wine and spirits distributor in Metro New York. He has a B.S. in Communication Arts - St. Johns University, Queens, New York.

About Southern Wine & Spirits of America:

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. is the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor, with current operations in 29 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—as well as the additional seven states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah through the Southern-Odom/Spirits West partnership. Southern is also a license permitee in the states of Nebraska and Texas. On a national basis, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. employs more than 10,000 team members. For more information contact: http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southernwine.com%2F&esheet=6056019&lan=en_US&anchor=www.southernwine.com&index=1.