CEO of Florida Beverage Association - Elizabeth DeWitt

CEO of Florida Beverage Association - Elizabeth DeWitt

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So I grew up in the Midwest, where we still use the word pop
instead of soda, so that hasbeen a transition for me. I grew
up in Kansas City. I wentto a local high school there that was
nationally recognized for academics, so I'vealways been pretty motivated starting out young.
I then went to Northwest Missouri StateUniversity, which is a smaller university in

(00:22):
Maryville, Missouri, and majored ininternational business. I think I'm a good
story on what you study in schoolisn't necessarily what you do in your life,
but it still has some good benefitsand lessons that you learn along the
way. So I majored in internationalbusiness, and I spoke Spanish and French.
Did really well in school there,and so I was offered an assistantship

(00:42):
with the Dean's office and ended upgetting my MBA, and that's where I
went to school, and then rightout of school, I went to work
for a US senator as a caseworker. He was focused on international relations,
which was one of the reasons Iwas interested in that role, and I
was an immigration caseworker and social serviceskind of caseworker as far as social security

(01:03):
administration so I had a keen interestin policy in DC on those topics.
I think one of the things thatthat job really helped develop for me was
my ability to interact with people andhave some empathy understanding where they come from
in difficult situations. And because Iwas able to do that, they moved

(01:25):
me to director of finance for aUS Senate campaign. At that time,
we've probably raised about almost three milliondollars, which, believe it or not,
in Kansas at that time, wasa huge amount of money, so
it was a big responsibility. Nowthat's barely a drop in the bucket for
campaigns. But I did work forthat senator for a few years, and
then I went to work for SprintCorporation in their government affairs department there and

(01:49):
got a better taste for lobbying andlearned more about political action committees, which
I managed in grassroots advocacy. SoI have around in a few jobs,
but i'll get you to know whereI'm going for today's job. I then
moved and went to work for aHouse candidate for Kansas State House who was

(02:09):
also a physician. He eventually becameLieutenant governor after I left, but I
managed all of his campaign and fundraisingfor him in the Overland Park area of
Kansas City. And then because ofthat job, I went to look for
other work, and I had movedto Florida, and so I actually did

(02:30):
a little bit of consulting on theside on some presidentials, but then got
called by an interesting company BP togo run their grassroots advocacy division, which
was new for them and they werelooking to expand. And so I think
I've always been one of those peoplethat's a self starter and very motivated through
campaigns and everything I've done. SoI started that program for them, was

(02:51):
nationally recognized for my work in theprogram and getting employees engaged in the political
process and really understanding how businesses andpolitics can work together, and understanding that
you need to know the rules ofthe game to play in that field and
how to get engaged and make yourvoice heard. Right, Well, let's
let's stop you there, because youknow you have such a fascinating resume.
I know that there's a current themeof government that's through your whole career,

(03:15):
but it's also interesting and this isa real lesson for our future leaders and
entrepreneurs. Is not staying in justone lane You've done a variety of so
many different things, which I thinkis really cool. And I think that
variety is probably taking you to thisjob. Now. You've been to this
one for over a decade now,and that's that's a long time at any
place. So obviously you love yourjob, you're sustainable, you're growing it

(03:38):
over the last ten years. ButI'm curious because you have such a great
variety and a really cool resume,Elizabeth, I can see why you were
interested in Florida Beverage Association, butwhy were do you think they were interested
in you? I want to knowwhat came together for this partnership, because
that's always such an interesting story whensomebody joins an association, especially when you've

(04:00):
been with them for ten years.Yeah. Absolutely, yes, I did
move around to several jobs, sothank you for pointing that out. That
it does get you where you wantto go eventually. So I had worked
in oil and gas, and Iworked at BP oil spill as in the
public as a public information officer andthe Joint Incident Command and also on the
ground, and you know, it'sa really challenging time. I learned a
lot about myself and other folks there, but for one thing, I realized

(04:23):
that I did, in fact likeFlorida. I was living in Texas at
the time, which is also agreat state, but I liked Florida.
I liked being outdoors, which issomething I'm going to talk about later as
far as environmental sustainability and why peopleactually choose to live in Florida. But
you know, I was looking fora change, and this job came available
with the Beverage Association. They werelooking for their first full time president and

(04:44):
CEO, and I'm a self starter, so I was really interested in the
opportunity to come in and develop aprogram that you know, I could use
some innovation in my creativity to helpus get where we wanted to go.
And I also think, you know, oil and gas is great, and
we talk a lot a lot aboutdifferent things like hydraulic fracturing and some of
the technical details, but when youtalked about beverages, almost everyone is hell

(05:08):
a beverage or enjoy one of ourbeverages from one at one point in time,
And in some ways it's a loteasier to to connect with folks on
those issues that they're very familiar with. And so for me, I've always
been one of those people that likesa new challenge. And I had the
background, you know, as youmentioned in my job career, I worked
in the government side, then Iworked on the campaign side, and then

(05:30):
I worked in the private sector andCEO, so I was very well rounded
and knowing how all those parts fittogether. And I really think that was
one of the things that stuck outto my board members when they interviewed me.
And we're looking for a change there. So that's kind of how I
got there, how all those piecesfit together to help me get where I
wanted to go. That's great andthank you for that. You know,

(05:50):
it's also a lesson too, AndI kind of did what you did,
is that I did a variety ofthings in my business, and I made
sure not to get over my skistoo early because I knew that all the
things I was doing was going toprep me for that day that I got
that big job, which you didabout ten years ago as president CEO.
Well, let's do this because weare here to talk about the Florida Beverage
Association overall. What is the missionstatement? So we represent the non alcoholic

(06:15):
beverage industry in Florida. So thatwould be your soft drinks, your teas,
your kombucha's, all those drinks thatyou probably drink on a daily basis.
And you may or may not knowthat my companies actually produce, but
I represent several companies in Florida whodistribute so Coca Cola Beverages Florida, Pepsi,
Coo Cure, Doctor Pepper, BuffaloRock Coke United, and Pepsier Freshman

(06:40):
Services. And you know, wereally are working with legislators and policy makers
on issues where we're all aligned,so for our industry, and you may
know, all those companies are reallyfierce competitors in the marketplace, but on
the issues that are aligned, wework together. And for us that's environmental
sustainability, economic development, and healthand wellness. And I would say recently

(07:00):
we've been really focused on the environmentalsustainability aspect of our businesses and how we
can improve that in Florida. Ithink one of the big things that comes
to mind if to explain that,and I'll ask you another question, is
advocacy. And I think that's areal big deal, especially you know the
kind of climate we're living in withsustainability and all the things that We're trying
to educate people on to make thingsmore viable for everybody and not use wasted

(07:24):
materials. As you work with allthe bottlers that are non alcoholic in Florida.
So let's do this. Because youexplained it a little bit, but
if you were to give a thirtythousand foot view, and if somebody were
introduced to the Florida Beverage Association forthe very first time, and you would
tell them this is what we do, exactly what we do, what would
that be. So I am theface of the beverage industry in front of

(07:46):
legislators in Tallahasseee community involvement, wehave a grant program. I'm kind of
the first stop for anyone that hasquestions about the industry, what our companies
do, and kind of pulled everyonetogether so that we're aligned move forward on
those initiatives. So we have aninitiative called Every Bottle Back, which basically
as its name applies, we wantour bottles back. They are made to

(08:09):
be remade. We're very intentional aboutthe design of our products. They are
fully recyclable, including the caps.So one of the things I've been cast
passed with is going forth and talkingto community groups about the fact that our
products are recyclable. We don't considerthem single use plastic. These are ways
that you know, people can takeeveryday steps to help improve the environment.

(08:31):
And that's not only with adults,but with kids too. You know,
I talk to my kids. Withthe employees, I'll talk to their kids
about the importance of recycling and puttingthings in the bin. So I think
that's one of the big things thatwe're aligned on and I am the spokesperson
for that campaign in Florida. Weactually have in every bottle back coalition,
which is the first one in theUS at the local level. At the
state level, there's a national coalition, but we in Florida know that this

(08:52):
is something really important to our constituentshere and so we're working to move that
forward and see what we can doto move the needle on recycling US a
favor. Because now you've explained that'swhat's a week like for you, Because
you talked about the bottlers, andyou've talked about initiatives, and once again,
folks, we've just hit the tipof the iceberg of what Elizabeth and
her team do with that said,with all these bottlers in Florida. But
what would a day in the dayor a week be like as you work

(09:16):
with all these different clients, what'sit like and what do you do with
them? Yeah, so I wouldsay I have a really great board.
I enjoy working with them. Alot of times they'll contact me about community
events or ways I can support them, or you know, I would go
and speak and recently we're in Daytonatalking to them mayor they're about recycling.
Kind of serve as that, asyou said, tip of the iceberger or
tip of the spear for the companieswhen we engage with communities, so that

(09:39):
I'm speaking in broad terms and canrepresent them. We also do some work
around health and making balanced choices onyour calories and those sorts of things.
But during session, it's a lotof monitoring legislation, making sure that we're
getting our voice heard and that thebills, you know, speaking up on
bills when that's important. I alsoserve as the chair of the Florida Recycling

(10:01):
Partnership Foundation, and so in thatrole, we talk a lot with businesses
about best practices and share that information. I was going to say, you
know, we talked about Florida specifically, Florida, as everyone knows, is
a great place to live and work, and a lot of people come here
to vacation. In fact, wehave about five times over five times as
many visitors as people who live here. But we're also growing by a thousand

(10:26):
residents a day, which is astronomicalwhen you think about the infrastructure that needs
to be in place for recycling andwaste. So a lot of the emphasis
that we've had has been working onmodernizing the recycling infrastructure through our Every Bottleback
campaign, which will actually leverage onehundred million dollar investment nationally into a four
hundred million dollar investment to modernize infrastructureand curbside recycling. But Florida, I

(10:48):
think is unique in its recycling challengesfor a few reasons. One is the
number of tourists we have, sothat makes it difficult to remind people to
recycle when they're probably enjoying our begis on the beach and other places to
put those in the can. ButFlorida, you know, when you think
about the number of municipalities and counties. Under state statute, each county selects

(11:09):
four items from a list of eightitems to be recycled. So what that
means is that we have a patchworkof recycling regulations across the state, so
that we know we have a lotof work to educate folks about the importance
of recycling. And that's what Iwould say a majority of my job is
now is going out and advocating tofolks that you know, they let us

(11:30):
come and talk to their membership,if it's another trade association that we're working
with, or legislators, to letthem know that you know, these these
products are recyclable, we want themback. We actually have a hard time
getting enough back sometimes to put intoour packaging, but it's an important way
that people can take everyday steps tohelp improve the environment and recycling. So,

(11:50):
Elizabeth, I'm stopping the interview justfor a second. I lost you
for about maybe ten seconds. Idon't know Vince noticed that, but if
you noticed it, whether it wason mayen or year in, I'll easily
added the there won't be any issues. I just want to let you know
that we last you for about tenseconds, but it's okay, so I'll
edit that and there won't be anyissues. I just wanted to let you
know, Okay, Well, Iwant to talk about maybe some great stories

(12:11):
or things you're looking forward to inthe future, because I know you as
association are always looking five and tenyears down the road, which I always
get excited about and think tanks andwhat's next and all those cool things.
You did mention recycling being a challengingand I think that comes back. You've
talked a lot about education, whetherit's your clients or whether it's the folks
that live in Florida. But withall that said, any other challenges in

(12:33):
the industry presenting themselves either to yourclients or you right now that you know
just it's a tough role, you'regoing to get through it, but a
challenge right now or challenges that you'regoing through. I think mostly for us
it is just around recycling and sustainability. We do have initiatives around health sometimes,
and we've been really cognizant and pragmaticabout telling folks, you know,

(12:56):
our bottles and cans have calorie countson them, letting folks know that,
you know, they need to makedecisions overall that fit their lifestyles and what
they're eating and drinking. So alot of times I think people overlook their
calories from beverages and the amount ofcalories they're eating overall based on their activity
level. So sometimes we have hadissues in the past with those challenges of

(13:18):
like looking at the health and caloriecounts of our beverages, I would say
that sixty percent of our products soldtoday are lower no calorie options. And
so one of the things we're doingwhen you talk about challenges, I guess,
is listening to what the consumers wantand using the innovation of our companies
to get give the consumers what theywant, whether that's recycled content in our

(13:39):
packaging or whether that's drink and flavorprofiles that fit people's current tastes and activity
levels. Florida overall is unique whenwe talk about environment and recycling, and
that when we've done polling, whetheryou're an R or a D, both
sides of the aisle consider themselves environmentalists. And that's because we're so close to

(14:01):
springs and oceans and places to beoutside, and we know that we want
our beaches to be pristine so thatthe tourists come back and then that it's
a great place for wildlife too.We don't like to see our bottles and
cans on the side of the roador where they shouldn't be better than what
I don't want to say, easierthan anyone else, Like, we don't
want to see those bottles and canson the roadways, and so we've been

(14:24):
working really hard with groups to makesure they put those in the bin.
I think you know, our company'slogos are very recognizable, which is a
great thing, but it's not sogreat when people don't dispose of them like
they should. And so we're workinghard on the education front, not only
by putting messaging on our bottles andcaps to remind people to recycle, but
also doing public service type announcements andad campaigns about the importance of recycling.

(14:48):
I think we hear people had tohear something six times before they made a
behavior change. I rely I recentlyheard that changed a fourteen times. So
I mean that the bars set highfor us to make some of those changes
and get folks to remember that putthose models and cans in the recycling that
as a sidebar note, Elizabeth,I think my wife would agree with you.
And how many times I'm going tohave to say something until they get

(15:11):
the message? Good call man,I was going to say, that's my
kid. I feel like I haveto say at least seven times before that
you hear me. Yeah, I'vegot a twenty one year old too,
so I agree with you on thekid angle. Yeah, well, listen,
I want to talk about the futureand also things that you're excited about,
because I know you're always looking atthings and beside the education and all
the different programs you're working on,the events and working with the bottlers in

(15:31):
Florida, is there something that iseither revolutionary coming up or something that's exciting
to you or program that's something veryspecial that you're proud of along with the
people that you work with. Yeah. So we have a community grant program
that's now and it's ninth year thatI started when I came on board.
As far as putting our program parameterstogether, so we've done some projects with

(15:52):
deep and our state parks. Soone of the things I'm excited about is
trying to get more recycling in thestate parks themselves. And a lot of
times people think that's you know,why don't you just put a bin in
the state park, which seems likean easy solve, But it's the back
end in the infrastructure where it geta little more challenging. So I'm trying
to bring in partners together in stateparks where we have a relevant, you

(16:14):
know, relevant attendance. We dida project in Key Biskain and build bags
Cape State Park, but that providesfolks the opportunity to see those bends,
the park rangers to talk to theindividuals about the importance of recycling and improve
recycling in the parks through through educationand one on one conversations. I feel
like a lot of what we dois word of mouth, and so the

(16:37):
more that we can get people toadvocate and understand the importance of recycling,
the better. As far as excitingnews, I always think it's so interesting
the new products that our companies comeout with and innovation. You know,
sometimes I see stuff on the shelvesbe where I hear from the companies,
and I think that's a product ofcustomers really making their voices heard on what
products they like. And you know, you look at our portfolio mix.

(17:00):
It used to be a lot morefull sugar beverages, but that that has
changed a lot, and so we'readapting to those and using new technology and
using new kind of sweeteners, usingmore hydration. There's there's products that use
advanced hydration methods in the in thebeverages themselves so that athletes theay better hydrated.

(17:22):
And you know, here in Florida, we know we're outside being active,
and so we needed to keep ontop of that. So I always
think those types of things are interesting. We are doing a flying in DC
next week, so we're excited aboutthat to talk to our federal delegation on
some of the top issues and seewhere we can, you know, make
sure that we serve as resources forthose folks. But overall, you know,

(17:45):
I think the work we've done tocreate our own coalition in Florida on
every bottle back and letting people knowthat our products are made to be remade
is exciting for our industry. We'rethe first ones in the US to do
that, and the companies are allbehind it one hundred percent. They they're
in every community across Florida. Infact, we provide about twenty thousand jobs
across the state and have a directeconomic impact of about fifteen million dollars.

(18:08):
And then when you look at thejobs supported by our industry in some form,
so that would be jobs at grocerystores or restaurants or places where they
serve beverages. We support about ninetyfour thousand jobs across the state, so
yeah, that we know we're inevery corner of the state and we want
to make sure that we're good citizensand our employees live in those communities too,

(18:29):
so you know, we're really workinghard to make sure Florida is a
great place to live, work inplay as we say, and work with
partners and find new innovation and waysto do things. Well, that's outstanding.
Thank you for sharing all that.And I think most of our listeners
know about me that I'm old enoughto remember. In the seventies, the
biggest innovation that all of these drinkingcompanies had, whether it was alcoholic or

(18:52):
non alcoholic, is a one time, kids that we had a polltab that
actually came off the can, andthat's where you know, people you know,
just threw away and didn't recycle backthen. But now that is connected
to the can, and that's probablythe biggest innovation that I've ever seen of
any kind of drinking can over theyears, beside all the great things they're
doing with nutrition and sugars and allthat kind of thing. Thanks for sharing
all that. That's really cool.Stuff, and I love it that you're

(19:15):
employing so many people through the association. I mean, that is really tremendous.
I want to do this, Elizabeth. I want to get some final
thoughts from you for our listeners.And it's been a great conversation, but
just maybe a few takeaways from you, just kind of wrapping up everything about
Florida Beverage Association and just some thingsyou'd like our listeners to be left with
yours. Yeah, oh, absolutely, thank you so much. So.

(19:37):
I think, you know, theone thing is if you you know you're
talking about innovation and the poll tabson the cans. We have recently been
making sure people know to leave thebottle caps on the models when they're recycling,
because if you don't leave those catson there get stuck in the recycling
machinery. So I think some ofthose innovations are good. And you know,
I think one of the things thatI just want to mention is that

(19:59):
we are very intention and innovative whenwe design our packaging and we work with
the recycling facilities to make sure thatthey are fully recyclable. It's it's not
an accident. We know our petfood grade pet is very valuable and we're
working hard to get that back.Overall, our plastics may be a somewhat
smaller, smaller percentage of the overallpie recyclable materials, but for us,

(20:22):
that's where we have the expertise,and so we're happy to share with folks
what we're doing as far as waterconservation, recycling, sustainability, health and
find partnerships that we can we cansupport and make our voices heard. I
would just encourage everyone who's out thereto make sure that they are paying a
little more attention to what can berecycled and putting putting those things in the

(20:45):
bend. Florida has a lot ofchallenges ahead of it, a lot of
new residents coming in that are fillingup more and more of our landfills,
and so we want to keep ourbottles and cants out of those landfills and
make sure that we're preserving Florida forfuture generations. And like I said,
we live in Florida because we canbe outside almost entirely the entire year where

(21:08):
I'm in northern Florida, so itgets a little chillier. I buy Florida
standards, but you know, whenyou go outside you're here to enjoy nature
and so we want to keep itthat way and we're looking for any partners
that we can find to help uswith that goal. Well, thank you
for all that. And we've talkeda lot about education here in the last
twenty twenty five minutes and if youwant to educate yourself on a really cool

(21:30):
website that's easy to navigate, yourteam, Elizabeth has done a wonderful job
designing this and it really is easyto navigate on the website. What's the
web address for everybody? Sure,it's www dot fla like Florida beev like
Beverage dot org. And we're alsoon social media on Instagram, LinkedIn Twitter,

(21:52):
or x and fred, so lookfor us there. We'd be happy
to happy to start some conversations thereas well. Well, Elizabeth, it's
just pleasure to talk to you inthis short amount of time as we get
to know each other. And onceagain, you just have such a fabulous
resume. But I know you you'remost proud of these last ten years,
this decade as president and CEO ofthe Florida Beverage Association and all the great
work you and your team have done. But also what the future looks like.

(22:15):
And I always think it's really bigwhen it comes to the Earth and
sustainability and recycling all those things.You know, It's always been big in
my family, and I'm sure Ispeak for a lot of families and people
out there. They're saying, goget them. And thank you for educating
people out there and doing what youdo, because it's a real big deal
out there about just saving our littlepart of the world wherever you live,
and recycling and doing all the otherthings with the Bolers. Thank you so

(22:37):
much for joining us on CEOs.You should know and continue success. We
really appreciate it. Thank you somuch. Anis