Our Company - Southwest Spirits

A Rising Force in a Growing Market

Southwest Spirits offers high-quality, high-capacity, end-to-end spirits production for beverage alcohol brands. We develop brands that deliver on the quality expectations of our consumers, retailers, and distributors.

As the third-largest spirits distiller in Texas, our operation is run by a team of industry-leading master blenders, distillers, marketers, packaging, and supply chain experts. Together, we develop and launch award-winning distilled spirits brands across the U.S.

We rigorously execute multi-platform efficiencies
that allow us to provide unparalleled quality and service:

Brand Development – including Liquid Formulation, Packaging Design, Product Positioning, and Launch Plan.

Production – Including Distillation, Sourcing, Aging, Bottling, Blending, All sizes and designs.

Meet Our Leadership Team

As a company, we are greater than the sum of our parts – but that’s only because we’ve hired the best people in the business.

Meet some of the talent that makes our business possible:

Guillermo Rodriguez

Chief Executive Officer

Guillermo Rodriguez has over 25 years of commercial, operational and general management experience in the distilled spirits business, in both U.S. and international markets. He has worked in both supplier and distributor roles, including executive management, sales and marketing, operations, production, innovations, shopper marketing and national accounts.

Jenny Wang Gates

EVP of Commercial Strategy

With over 15 years of strategy, finance, and commercial experience in the beverage alcohol industry, Jenny Gates joins Southwest Spirits as the EVP of Commercial Strategy. Most recently, Jenny helped launch new concepts and grow brands as Chief Strategy Officer and later as CFO of Next Century Spirits, a Raleigh-based spirits brand incubator and technology startup. Prior to NCS, she spent eight years at Pernod Ricard USA, where she worked across Absolut, Jameson, Malibu, and all of PRUSA’s spirits portfolio in a variety of leadership positions, including Vice President, Commercial Strategy. A Duke University graduate with an MBA from Columbia Business School, Jenny started her career as a CPG consultant at Deloitte Consulting and later worked as a coverage banker at UBS Investment Bank. She is the proud mom of two young children and is able to feign amusement at her husband’s puns.

Don Ulino

Vice President of Sales - Northeast Division

Don brings over 25 years of successful management experience both as a supplier and distributor manager in the alcohol industry. Don has an exceptional history focused on building teams and managing business growth and profitability for each company he has been with. He possesses strong knowledge and experience in all aspects of the adult beverage business and is a proven leader with demonstrated success in some of the top companies in the wine and spirits industry.

Tim Condron

Vice President of Sales - Central Division

Tim brings over 37 years of Beverage Alcohol experience to Southwest Spirits. He has led both large and small supplier teams in Sales, Marketing and Distributor management during his career. A snapshot of his key positions includes SVP Sales, VP Business Development, VP National Accounts, VP Control States, Military, Director of Regional Marketing and Brand Management. He is a proven leader in all aspects of developing businesses, people and brands in the industry.

John Martinez

Vice President of Sales - West Division

A 29-yr beverage alcohol industry veteran with leadership positions held at both the distributor and supplier side of the business. A proven leader with knowledge in both On- & Off-premise channels to include chain and independent markets and has held various roles including: Sales Rep, District Manager, Category Manager, Chain Manager, Brand/Portillo Manager and VP of marketing and programming on the distributor side and Area Manager, State Manager and Region VP on the supplier side. He has a proven track record of meeting and exceeding goals.

Miguel Rodriguez

Vice President of Sales - Southeast Division

Miguel Rodriguez is a sales executive with over 33 years of sales management experience, growing Regional, National and Global Spirits brands. He is devoted to driving the sales process from plan to close. He has managed Independent and National On- & Off-premise channels and has held various roles including: State Manager, Regional Manager, National Account Manager & National Sales Director. Miguel has a proven track record of exceeding goals and enjoys mentoring others for future advancement.

Wayne Rogers

Vice President of Sales - Southwest Division

Wayne Rogers brings over 17 years of experience both as a supplier and distributor in the alcohol industry. He has held several roles including Sales Rep, District Sales Manager, Chain Account, Marketing, Regional Market, and Texas State Manager. In all roles, Wayne has had an exceptional history focused on building teams and managing business growth.

SCOTT HERON

Vice President of Sales – Control States

Scott Heron brings over 25 years of successful management experience in three-tier sales and distribution execution. Since joining Southwest Spirits in 2017, Scott has been responsible for West Division Sales operations.

Matt Venezuela

Vice President of Operations & Facility Management

Matthew has over 10 years of operational management experience in the food industry overseeing multi-site processing, manufacturing, and distribution facilities nationwide. He is committed to ensuring development and implementation of efficient operations and cost-effective systems to meet current and future needs of the organization. With a strong focus on employee engagement, Matthew has a proven track-record of company growth with continuous improvements and strategic planning.

Britanni Rutledge

Director of Business Intelligence & Strategic Planning

Boasting 13 years in data analytics, consulting and business transformations, Britanni has a proven track record of driving scalable growth. Her purpose lies in translating data into strategic insights, guiding businesses through transformative journeys with a focus on scalable solutions. Her dedication to delivering impactful results ensures the alignment of analytics to organizational goals.

Tate Smith

Director of Procurement

Tate Smith joins Southwest Spirits as the Director of Procurement and brings over 6 years of experience in the beverage alcohol industry. Most recently, he was the Procurement Manager for Indirect Materials & Services at Sazerac working on notable brands such as Fireball, Buffalo Trace, and Southern Comfort. Tate has held multiple positions which have allowed him to develop an excellent skillset within beverage manufacturing procurement. Tate is originally from Houston, Texas, but grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. He has a degree in Finance, an MBA, and a Certificate of Distilled Spirits Business from University of Louisville.