Industry: Beverages

Claude B. Nielsen

  • November 20th, 2024

Claude Nielsen is the former CEO and chairman of the board of Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc. After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Sewanee: The University of the South, an MBA from the University of Virginia, and a brief Birmingham banking career, Nielsen joined Coca-Cola UNITED in 1979. He held a variety of operational and managerial positions in the company until he was named CEO in 1991 and later chairman of the board of directors in 2003. Under Nielsen’s leadership, Coca-Cola UNITED more than tripled the size and scope of the company in terms of revenues, geography, number of associates, and facilities. Birmingham-based Coca-Cola UNITED is among the largest bottlers and distributors of Coca-Cola products in the U.S. With over $4 billion in annual revenues, it is also one of the largest privately held companies in Alabama. Nielsen retired as CEO in 2016 and as chairman in 2023.

Over the course of his career, Nielsen was often asked if he knew the secret Coca-Cola formula. “I can answer that question with a simple two letter word,” he said in an address to the Newcomen Society of Alabama in 2017. “No.”

But that’s not entirely true. According to a nomination letter by current Coca-Cola UNITED President and CEO Michael A. Suco, while Nielsen may not know the secret CocaCola formula, he knows Coca-Cola UNITED’s secret ingredients. “As one of the architects of the U.S. Coca-Cola system as it stands today,” Suco wrote of Nielsen, “his incredible system knowledge and commitment to our associates, consumers, customers and communities are foundational to our success. No one believes in and lives our purpose and values more than Claude. He has always valued our associates and our brands as the ‘secret ingredients’ to our success.”

Upon his nomination to the Birmingham Business Hall of Fame in 2022, Nielsen told The Over the Mountain Journal, “Any success I’ve enjoyed as a business leader must be shared with the thousands of associates within the Coca-Cola UNITED family who made leading this great enterprise a real privilege over the years.”

Today, Coca-Cola UNITED has more than 10,000 associates located in more than 50 facilities across six southeastern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee). The company’s operations consist of state-of-the-art sales and distribution centers, along with eight manufacturing facilities serving more than 150,000 customers across their footprint. Historically significant franchises within the Coca-Cola UNITED family include Chattanooga, the world’s first Coca-Cola bottler; Atlanta, home of the worldwide Coca-Cola system; and Columbus, Georgia, development site of the original Coca-Cola formula.

Nielsen has served as a board member and chairman of the American Beverage Association, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, and The Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Association. He has devoted time and energy supporting community causes like the United Way of Central Alabama, the Birmingham Airport Authority Board, and the American Cancer Society. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Birmingham Business Alliance.

Nielsen was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 2016. In addition, he and his wife, Kate, were recognized by the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 2017 with the “Heart of an Eagle” award for their community service, and they were named Outstanding Civic Leaders by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2021.

The Nielsens have three children and nine grandchildren and reside in Birmingham.

Woodrow Wilson “Foots” Clements

  • October 26th, 2021

Woodrow Wilson Clements, the man with the unusual nickname “Foots,” is responsible for much of the growing success of the soft drink with the unusual name “Dr. Pepper.”

He acquired the nick­name in high school, he says, because, “My feet were big then and my legs were thin; they looked like two toothpicks stuck in a watermelon.” He used his nickname when he became a route salesman for Dr. Pepper in 1935 because it was a different name, and as a salesman, “you want people to remember you and in a friendly manner.” He refused to drop his nickname even after he became president of the company in 1969 and subsequently chief executive officer and chairman of the board. “I got here using the nickname Foots,” he has said, “and I’m going to continue using it.”

This kind of determination to stick to his beliefs, or “just plain stubbornness” he might call it, is one of the characteristics that contributed to his rise in the company and the company’s rise in the soft drink industry.

The youngest of the nine children of Martha (Christian) and William Houston Clements, Woodrow Wilson Clements was born in Wind­ham Springs, Alabama, on July 30, 1914. In 1925, the family moved to Northport, Alabama (where he still visits relatives at least once a year). From his parents, he learned early the rewards of work and acquired faith and belief in the free enter­prise system. By the time he was ten, he was carrying a full load of work on the family farm. His first “paying job” was trapping “possums” and selling the skins to his father.

Throughout his school years, the enterprising young man held a variety of jobs, but they didn’t keep him from being an honor student during his high school years. After graduating from Tuscaloosa County High in 1933, he attended Howard College on a foot­ball scholarship but left after one semester because of a knee injury. From 1933-1935, he attended the University of Alabama on a working scholarship. He also worked part-time as a butcher and performed almost any type of work where he could earn a dollar.

In 1935, the young man obtained what he thought would be a summer job as a route salesman for the Tuscaloosa Dr. Pepper bottling plant. He fell in love with selling, which he calls “the gentle art of letting the other person have your way.” He discovered that it was “a profession in which your rewards are based on your efforts.” After becoming a top salesman for Dr. Pepper in Alabama, he decided he wanted to work at the main office of the Dr. Pepper Co. Three times he applied and three times he was turned down. When he was twenty-seven, he tried again and was successful. He moved to the headquarters in Dallas as Dr. Pepper’s zone manager for four Eastern states.

Thus, began the out-of-the-ordinary career of this man whose business acumen is matched only by his personal attributes.

In 1944, “Foots” Clements was moved up to sales promotion manager and four years later, assistant manager of bottler services. By 1949, he was named general sales manager, and in 1951, vice president, general sales manager. He became vice president of marketing in 1957 and is credited with aggressively franchising the company, creating a network of bottlers throughout the country and a distinct identity for a distinct soft drink. This marketing technique stemmed from his early belief that Dr. Pepper had to be more accessible. “People don’t really walk a mile for a Camel,” he said, “and they won’t dig in the backroom for a Dr. Pepper.”

During this period of steady promotion, this expert marketer was somewhat frustrated because he just wasn’t making the progress that he desired. He wanted to “get ahold of the company” in order to make it a more aggressive firm. His patience and hard work were, of course, eventually rewarded. In January 1967, he was elected execu­tive vice president and director. In March 1969, he became president and chief operating officer and in March 1970 was elevated to chief executive officer. From March 1974 to February 1980, he served as chairman of the board, president and CEO. He remained chairman and CEO until he was named chairman emeritus in August 1986.

W.W. “Foots” Clements was the catalyst for the company’s significant growth in the 1960′ s and 1970′ s. His two-pronged objective of building the industry’s strongest bottler network and a solid sales/marketing organization resulted in the firm’s rise from that of a “Texas drink” to one of significant national stature with international potential.

In 1973, Fortune called “the emergence of Dr. Pepper Co. as a glamour issue .. . among the more remarkable developments in recent years” and called this emergence a “triumph of marketing,” which began when W. W. “Foots” Clements became executive vice president and a director in 1967. Dr. Pepper Co. had been “total­ly unglamorous and little known above the Mason-Dixon line.” But by 1973 revenues and earnings had nearly quadrupled and Dr Pepper was sold in almost every community and in much of Canada, with plans to market overseas for the first time – in Japan. One of the principal changes that marketer Clements had made was to increase advertising. Thus, were many people who had never tasted the drink – or even heard of it – persuaded to try Dr. Pepper, “America’s Most Misunderstood Soft Drink.”

Even while concentrating most of his energy in trying to get more and more people over larger and larger areas to drink more and more Dr. Pepper, this kind, understanding, and down-to­earth man found time to serve his adopted hometown Dallas. He has said, “Anything good for Dallas, I was involved with it.” He has served on the boards of scores of Dallas civic and business organizations.

He has also served The University of Alabama in various capacities-including service as a member of the College of Commerce Board of Visitors and the President’s Cabinet. He has been asked many times to speak before Congressional committees as an expert of the soft drink industry and is a member of the U.S. Senatorial Business Advisory Board.

For his many accomplishments in marketing and management he has received numerous awards from the international, national, regional, and local chapters of the Sales and Marketing Executives Club. He was also named Beverage Industry “Man of the Year” in 1976 and Finan­cial World “Chief Executive Officer of the Year­Beverage Industry” in 1977; he was inducted into Beverage World Hall of Fame in 1982. He received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Southern Methodist University School of Business in 1975.

In recognition of his overall accomplishments, he received: an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from The University of Alabama (1974); the George Washington Certificate Award for Dallas Citizenship presented by Freedoms Foun­dation at Valley Forge (1975); the Horatio Alger Award (1980); and the National Football Foun­dation and Hall of Fame, Inc. – Lone Star Chapter Distinguished American Award (1980).

“Foots” Clements, now Chairman Emeritus of Dr. Pepper Co., has said he wishes he could be forty again so he could say that he’ll live to see Dr. Pepper become the best-selling soft drink. But regardless of whether he’s around, he pledges it will happen.

Sources of biographical information: The Dallas Morning News, July 18, 1982; Dallas Times Herald, May 26, 1985; Fortune, December 1973.

James Coleman Lee, Jr.

  • October 18th, 2021

Family pride, cutting-edge packaging innovations, and a fierce competitive streak have been the driving forces behind Jimmy Lee’s unparalleled success in his industry, a success made all the sweeter because this lifetime soft drink man made his mark ” with Pepsi – almost literally in Atlanta-based Coca-Cola’s back yard.

Born January 10, 1920, to parents Elizabeth Turley and James Coleman Lee, Sr., in Birmingham, Alabama, James Coleman “Jimmy” Lee, Jr. was also born to the world of sugars and fizz; his father was second-generation president and owner of the Buffalo Rock Company. As Jimmy grew up in this family with ginger ale bottling roots, he greatly anticipated the day he, too, could become a part of the business his grandfather Sidney Lee founded during the Civil War. “The Lee family is tied to the beverage industry totally,” said Jimmy, who as a small child had a drink stand in his neighborhood and would go with his father to the family plant and see the truck drivers off on their delivery routes each day. Later, at age 19 he would load those same route trucks during the summer. “I enjoy it, my entire family enjoys it,” he said. “I guess we were weaned on a soft-drink bottle.”

However, Jimmy’s dreams of joining the family business would have to wait; first came the pursuit of higher education at Birmingham Southern College and Auburn University. Then World War II erupted and his country needed him; Jimmy left college during his junior year and within three years of joining the U.S. Air Force in 1943 had climbed the ranks from private to first lieutenant while in troop carrier command in England. After military service, the young man came back to Alabama eager to become a contributor at Buffalo Rock. Sadly, it was not too long after Jimmy joined the company that it became apparent his presence was much needed; James Lee, Sr., had fallen ill, and many, of his goals were still unfulfilled.

When the senior Lee passed away in May of 1951, his son – shaken by the loss of the role model he loved so dearly – took the reins as president of Buffalo Rock. Only one month later, with company sales at approximately $1 million and with fewer than 100 employees, 31-year-old Jimmy set out to realize one of his late father’s goals: signing with the Pepsi Cola Company. Jimmy successfully bought into the Pepsi franchise, and thus he embarked on the journey that would lead Buffalo Rock to become one of the industry giant Coca-Cola’s fiercest competitors in the South as Jimmy skillfully guided his company into handling other national brand products, along with smaller regional brands.

Another move Jimmy made early in his tenure as president was to buy out the holdings other family members had in the company. “I wanted the flexibility to do well or not to do well,” he recalled years later. “If I took a chance and went broke, I didn’t want my family to suffer.”

That flexibility paid off: Jimmy bought into the Dr. Pepper franchise in 1957 and followed that move with the purchase of the 7UP franchise in 1962. Buffalo Rock received well-deserved accolades as it became the largest family-owned Pepsi-Cola operation in the country – a status it still retains today. In 1966, Jimmy moved to ensure the growth and success of his grandfather’s company by building the then-most up-to-date bottling plant in the United States on a 27-acre site on Oxmoor Road in Birmingham. Further raising the bar on its competition, Buffalo Rock also added two additional production lines to the newly opened facility and handled more flavors than most bottlers, including Pepsi Cola, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Yoo-Hoo, Hershey’s, Grapico, 7UP, Sunkist, Ocean Spray, and of course Buffalo Rock. The company now has seven production lines and has added Tropicana to its family of products.

It was also in the 1960s that Jimmy made his mark on the soft drink industry with the first of his bold packaging innovations. In 1967 Buffalo Rock became the first company to market a 10-ounce non-returnable bottle – an innovation made even more remarkable because of its easy-open spin-top close feature. After that the number of employees at Buffalo Rock continued to climb steadily, totaling more than 1,000 over the next two decades thanks to acquisitions ranging from Dothan, Alabama, to Pensacola, Florida, and Columbus, Georgia. The 1980s were truly a time of success as Jimmy made another bold packaging move and introduced a product that would revolutionize the beverage industry: in 1984, consumers in the Birmingham market became the first to buy their soft drinks in three-liter bottles.

Strategic product innovations continued with a “best used by” date stamped on all cans in 1993 and the invention of Pourfection two-liter bottles in 1996. Buffalo Rock’s competition scrambled frantically as consumers embraced the easy-to-pour design, which Jimmy said he believed allowed for easier pouring for consumers of all ages. Once again, Jimmy left the competition to jump on his bandwagon as Buffalo Rock’s sales increased to $380 million.

In addition to setting industry trends, Jimmy, married since 1986 to the former Rose Marie Rezzonico and father to James C. Lee III, Peyton Leigh, and Donaldson Lee, focused on maintaining employee relations. “We have an open-door policy,” Jimmy said. “Employees can walk into my office, and we treat our employees as individuals, not numbers.” In 1976 he further backed up that philosophy by beginning a 401(k)/profit-sharing plan approximating $40 million. Strong employee relationships are even more important to Jimmy today as the company, with a payroll of $70 million, employs more than 2,400 employees and serves 5 million people with 14 distribution centers in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.

Although he did not complete his own college degree, Jimmy’s firm belief in the value of higher education and in giving back to the community led him over the years to serve as president of the Board of Trustees of Birmingham Southern College and head for four years of the President’s Council of the Uni­versity of Alabama at Birmingham. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Leadership Birmingham and the Southern Research Institute, and a member of the University of Alabama President’s Cabinet, and is also a director of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.

Through the years Jimmy’s hard work and success as a business leader and his dedication to his community have been recognized through numerous awards, including the first Birmingham Service Award in 1983 and his induction into the prestigious Alabama Academy of Honor in 1987. In 1972 he was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by the Alabama Soft Drink Association, and in 1978 received the Beverage Man of the Year Award. One of his crowning industry glories came in 1987 when he was inducted into the Beverage Industry Hall of Fame.

But there is another industry glory even more important to Jimmy Lee, now chairman of a Buffalo Rock that ended 1997 with $400 million in sales. Thanks to him, his children, and their children uphold a family tradition by going to work each day for a company that began making its mark on the soft drink indus­try in the 1800s – and will continue to do so long into the next century.

James C. Lee, III

  • September 28th, 2021

James C. Lee, III, “Jimmy,” currently serves as Executive Chairman and Owner of Buffalo Rock Company, one of the largest privately held, family-owned Pepsi franchises in the United States.

Jimmy began his career with Buffalo Rock Company, working summers, at the age of 12. After graduating from Auburn University in 1970, he spent one year working with Pepsi-Cola Company. He then came to work for Buffalo Rock Company on a full-time basis in 1971. Jimmy ultimately became the fourth generation Lee to manage the business and is currently involved at a strategic level with company operations as Executive Chairman.

As a Birmingham resident, Jimmy concentrates his efforts toward community involvement. With his encouragement and support, Buffalo Rock makes significant contributions to the community through sponsorship of charitable events, including donations of time, services, and product. In addition, a civic project with which Jimmy has had a passion for is Bent Brook Golf Course. The 27-hole facility was the first privately-owned public course in Birmingham that offers residents an upscale alternative for public golf.

In 2015, Jimmy was inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame and received Auburn University’s Jefferson County Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. Jimmy was also the recipient of the 2013 Alabama Newcomen Award and was named the 2011 March of Dimes Citizen of the Year.

Jimmy is currently a member of the Alabama Beverage Association, Board Member of the Mike Slive Foundation, Board Member of the Coach Safely Foundation, Board Member of the UAB School of Medicine’s Board of Visitors, and Board Member of the Lord Wedgwood Charity. Jimmy is also the Past Director of the Birmingham Business Alliance, Past President of Children’s Hospital Foundation Board, Past Chairman of the Board of Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Past President of the Alabama Beverage Association, Past Board Member of the American Beverage Association, Past President of the Vestavia Park Foundation, and Past President of the Auburn University Athletic Development Council.

William Albert Bellingrath

  • September 22nd, 2021

Shortly after the tum of the century, William Albert Bellingrath moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where he began to earn his reputation as a pioneer in the Coca-Cola bottling industry and as a leader in the civic and social welfare of Montgomery and the State of Alabama.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 30, 1868, he was the sixth child and fourth son of Leonard and Catherine Jean (McMillan) Bellingrath. In 1882, the family moved to Castleberry, Alabama, where the young Will lived until he sought a livelihood in the retail grocery business in Anniston. By 1901, the young man had become manager of the commis­saries of the Woodstock Coal and Iron Company.

In this position, he noticed a growing demand among the workers for a new beverage and he developed a keen in­terest in the future of Coca-Cola.

The young Coca-Cola Company of At­lanta, owned by Asa G. Candler, had esta­blished a policy of leaving the bottling and distribution of Coca-Cola to local companies under a franchise. Recognizing the possibilities in the field, William A. Bell­ingrath and his brother, Walter D. Bell­ingrath, turned their eyes to Montgomery where the Coca-Cola franchise had been granted to Rainey and Cole in 1902. By 1903, the brothers were able – based on their honesty and the faith of a friend – to obtain a loan from the First National Bank of Montgomery in order to complete the $5,000 purchase of the Montgomery fran­chise. (William Bellingrath later became a director of the bank and helped establish its importance in the economic life of Montgomery.)

Exercising extraordinary business abilities in times of economic stress, the Bellingraths were able to pay off their indebtedness within a few years and purchase the Mobile franchise. Walter D. Bellingrath assumed ownership of the Mobile operation. William A. Bellingrath remained in Montgomery where he devoted the rest of his life to the development of his business and the community.

Will Bellingrath became known as a pioneer in the Coca-Cola bottling industry be­cause of his farsightedness. He was among the first to use automobile trucks and to make store deliveries. He installed the first modern machinery in a bottling plant in the South. By 1926, he had made his bottling plant into a modern model plant. Always active in the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Associa­tion, he served as its president in 1916.

Though he devoted much of his effort to the Coca-Cola business which first brought him real success, he extended his activities in the business world to many other businesses and industries which meant much to the de­velopment of his home city and the state.

This student of men and affairs, who lacked complete schooling in his early days, had a peculiar faculty of using his store of personally acquired knowledge to the fullest extent, not only for himself but also for others. He became known as a man who could be relied on for sound counsel and advice. His unerr­ing honesty, calm judgment, and far-sighted vision brought him to elected leadership in civic affairs.

For many years, he served as a director of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, and at the time of his death, was the only Montgornerian to have served four terms as presi­dent of this organization. Under his leader­ship, the Chamber was able to help implement the establishment of the tactical school at Max­well Field; to encourage the development of dairy and poultry production and of meat and processing plants; to facilitate the establishment of Kilby Prison and of manufacturing plants.

According to a close friend, Will Bellingrath rarely took credit for his achievements. But “the smokestacks of Montgomery, improved agricultural conditions of Central Alabama, growth of financial institutions in Mont­gomery, the development of better markets in Central Alabama, and many other pieces of evidence of progress (were) but measures of the activity and intelligent efforts of a splendid, forthright citizen who, though a civic leader, was always willing to give credit to others for achieve­ments that were largely results of his endeavors.”

William Bellingrath was also a quiet philan­thropist. He was generous to institutions and to local charities, but his individual charity ex­tended beyond the knowledge of even his inti­mate friends. On record are his and his wife’s (nee Mary Nesbitt Elmore of Montgomery, whom he married in 1906) contributions to Huntingdon College of Montgomery where a building bears the name Bellingrath Hall. A deacon and elder in the Presbyterian Church, he gave generously of his time and means to the church and to the Presbyterian Horne for Orphans at Talladega. He was a contributor to and a trustee of Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. But he also gave much to young people seeking an education – gifts which were heard of only when the recipients or his friends spoke of them.

At the time of his death on March 11, 1937, William A. Bellingrath was described as the “First Citizen of Montgomery … ” “a deacon and elder of the Presbyterian Church … who walked daily in the faith of a living God … ” a man who “walked unafraid through a long and useful life.”

And sixteen years after his death when the Montgomery Coca-Cola Bottling Company celebrated its 50th anniversary, The Alabama Journal ran a special article about Will Bellingrath’s contributions to the economic, religious, cultural, and social life of the city. The article quoted the obituary from the March 12, 1937, Montgomery Advertiser:

“The city and county knew him as a leader in the field of industry and business, also a philanthropist and a Christian gentleman, always kind and considerate of his fellow man. Mr. Bellingrath’s altruism and generosity ex­tended to charitable organizations, his church, to worthy individuals, and to the development of the community.”

William Bellingrath is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Elmore Bellingrath Bartlett (Dr. Haywood), Mrs. Jean Bellingrath Lane (McMillan), and Mrs. Suzanne Bellingrath von Gal (George, Jr.).

In addition to his daughters, he is survived by ten grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren. (The primary source of this biographical in­formation was an article in The Montgomery Advertiser, by Jesse B. Hearn, long-time asso­ciate of William A. Bellingrath, as reprinted in the Coca-Cola Bottler, in April 1937.)

Crawford Toy Johnson

  • September 17th, 2021

Crawford Toy Johnson founded The Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company and contributed to the growth of Birmingham as a businessman, civic leader, and humanitarian.

Johnson attended Ole Miss and earned a Bachelor of Philosophy. In 1897, he married Caroline Acree. Through his friendship with a former classmate at Ole Miss, Johnson learned about the possibility of acquiring The Birmingham Coca-Cola franchise. Asa Candler of Atlanta, owner of The Coca-Cola Company, agreed to the deal, and Johnson jumped at the chance to acquire the Birmingham franchise. In 1902, Johnson founded The Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company with only one employee. Under Johnson’s leadership, the company expanded production. The company evolved from bottling 30 cases per hour to more than 300 by the 1920s. One of Johnson’s innovations, a new red metal vending machine that replaced the old barrel and tub coolers, kept his product in the public’s eye and contributed to the company’s survival of the Great Depression. Johnson emerged as one of the nation’s most respected soft drink bottlers. As a leader in organizing the Coca-Cola Bottler’s Association, he became its first president. As a civic leader, Johnson served as president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce; president of the Jefferson County Community Chest; and president of the Better Business Bureau. Johnson was also instrumental in founding Children’s Hospital. Johnson was an educational benefactor serving on the state board of education and supporting numerous colleges and universities throughout the state.

Gary P. Fayard

  • August 17th, 2021

Over his tenure as chief financial officer and executive vice president, he helped the company double its revenues to more than $47 billion. In those roles, he oversaw mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, and risk management.

Retiring in 2014 after 20 years of service, with 15 years in the CFO role, one of Fayard’s greatest accomplishments was leading the acquisition of Coca-Cola’s North American bottling and distribution business in 2010 for $12 billion. As part of his oversight over the company’s global finance operations, he established shared service centers in Ireland, the Philippines, and other locations around the world.

Through his tenure, he earned a reputation as a leader that could talk long-term strategy as well as the operational details. He prioritized the personal and professional growth of those reporting to him. Industry publications have recognized Fayard for his leadership capabilities: for three years running Institutional Investor named him the top CFO in the beverage industry and was a member of its “All-America Executive Team” for 2012. Furthermore, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2015.

Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Fayard served 19 years with Ernst & Young, concluding his service there as a partner, area director of audit services, and area director of manufacturing services.

Upon retirement, he started Stonewall Ridge Farm, a registered black Angus seedstock operation in Tennessee.

He serves on the board of directors of Genuine Parts Co. and Monster Energy Corp. He is the past president of the Atlanta-area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and chaired its successful $15 million fundraising campaign.

Through his involvement with The Coca-Cola Foundation, The University of Alabama was the first public institution to receive Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarships. He is a member of The University of Alabama President’s Cabinet and is on the board of visitors for UA’s Culverhouse College of Business.

Fayard attended The University of Alabama where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting –– the department that now houses the Fayard Endowed Chair of Accounting.

He was born in Atmore, Alabama and has been married to Nancy Shell Fayard for 46 years. They have two sons, John and Chris, and three grandchildren.

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