By Contributor,Steven Norton
Copyright forbes
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits logo
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits
For Steve Bronson, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits’ new Chief Information Officer, technology extends far beyond back-office support. He sees data and digital as the connective tissue powering the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor as it works to deliver new value for suppliers, retailers and consumers.
Bronson joined family-owned Southern Glazer’s in August, reporting to Chief Growth and Strategy Officer David Chaplin. He is part of OneTech, Southern Glazer’s centralized technology function that unites IT and digital teams to drive transformation across the company.
Tech is central to Southern Glazer’s Vision 2030, its plan to become “the hospitality industry’s most valued selling, logistics and insights provider.” In 2024, the organization announced major investments in new distribution centers, an expanded delivery fleet, and enhanced technology capabilities across marketing, supply chain, operations and beyond.
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits CIO Steve Bronson
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits
“We’re not just trying to digitize,” Bronson said in an interview. “We need to harmonize our business and scale in a way that makes us more efficient, drives measurable outcomes, and creates value for our three-tiered system.”
MORE FOR YOU
From the warehouse to the C-suite
Bronson began his career unloading trucks at Grainger before he moved up through roles in operations, supply chain and sales. “Something about supply chain just clicked for me early on,” he said. “I’ve always been a technologist, but those experiences grounded me in how operations and technology intersect to create value.”
He brings more than 25 years of enterprise technology leadership to Southern Glazer’s. Most recently, he was SVP of Global Technology Infrastructure and Operations at McDonald’s, where he helped build one of the world’s largest private cloud environments in partnership with Google and introduced AI personalization across 40,000 restaurants. Earlier roles at CDK Global, Nike, and Anheuser-Busch InBev gave him deep experience in ERP transformations, digital supply chain modernization and large-scale cloud migrations.
Those experiences, he said, reinforced the importance of building strong technical foundations while keeping systems flexible enough to adapt, a lesson he’s carrying forward to his new role. Looking back on past transformation efforts, he noted a few themes that guide his approach:
Keep the core simple and standard, and build differentiation on top of it.
Ensure senior leaders remain engaged by delivering measurable value throughout the journey.
Build an architecture for speed and agility that allows the business to adapt quickly.
“It’s about drawing a hard line between what’s core to the business and what’s differentiating,” he said. “If your architecture supports both, you can be nimble while keeping the foundation clean.”
Technology’s role in a shifting market
Bronson steps into the CIO role as the beverage alcohol industry faces softening demand and shifting tastes. Wine and spirits volumes have declined in recent years, while more ready-to-drink cocktails and non-alcoholic alternatives have entered the market. At the same time, cost pressures and changing consumer habits are squeezing margins.
Adding to the complexity is the U.S.’s three-tier distribution system, which requires suppliers, distributors and retailers to navigate a patchwork of state regulations and diverse stakeholder needs.
For Bronson, the macro headwinds reinforce technology’s importance in driving growth. “Every business has challenges,” he said. “It’s all cyclical, and we have to be ready for the peaks and troughs.” A benefit of the company’s scale, he says, is that it can pursue digital and other tough investments even in a tough environment.
He views data and digital tools as critical to helping suppliers, customers and retailers navigate the system more efficiently and with a sharper focus on customer experience. “With the right foundation, we can differentiate experiences for both ends of the value chain while making sure the whole system runs more smoothly,” he said.
The abundance of data available paired with AI’s power to personalize, can help Southern Glazer’s create new and differentiated experiences for both suppliers and customers. “It’s a force multiplier,” Bronson said. “We can put the power of real-time data in everyone’s hands in a more pragmatic way.”
Looking ahead
Asked what excites him most, Bronson points to the combination of scale, culture, and ambition. “The possibilities are endless,” he said. “For me, the people here are amazing, the industry brand is incredible, and the challenge is real and exciting.”
Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
