Bosscal Mezcal’s cofounders Verne and Nelson Nieves announced William “Bill” Edwards, formerly senior vice president of national accounts on-premise for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, has joined Bosscal as chief strategy officer. In his new role, he will provide direction to enhance strategic priorities and translate them to comprehensive plans to achieve the company’s vision. He will also be working to further align the company’s connectivity with its distributor partners, to align initiatives and goals with a view to driving share growth and value for all stakeholders.

Edwards began his career with Darden Restaurants, specializing in Olive Garden Concepts in the U.S. and Canada, focusing on beverage marketing and development initiatives for its then 525 restaurants. Edwards organized category management, set strategies to leverage the group’s scale and scope, developed and launched the company’s Italian joint venture and created a best-in-class beverage program that expanded wine volume to more than 500,000 cases annually. During his tenure wine revenues grew more than 70%, and Olive Garden was recognized by The Wall Street Journal as having the “best casual dining wine program.”

From there, Edwards was recruited to join what was then Southern Wine & Spirits of America (SWS), to create a company-wide national accounts go-to-market plan. This successful initiative led to a decade of steady promotions, as well as playing a key integration role during the SWS/Glazer’s merger to create and build the preeminent distributor national accounts team. In this role, Edwards set growth strategies for key chains and suppliers, across the top 320 on-premise chains, and $1 billion in annual revenue. 

Nelson and Verne Nieves say, “Bill is a highly regarded beverage industry leader who shares our company values and has a proven track record of success. We are excited to welcome Bill to the Bosscal family.”

Stuart McGuire, CEO of Bosscal Mezcal, says, “Bill and I have known each other since our days with Darden Restaurants. Bill is a strategic visionary and true gentleman. We are thrilled that Bill has joined to help guide Bosscal Mezcal’s next phase of growth.”