Raising the Bar

Chris Pratt serves as the Director of Trade Marketing for Tennessee at Crown Distributing, overseeing trade development for wine and spirits outside of Diageo in Tennessee. Chris has over 30 years of industry experience with all commodities. Chris started in 1994 at the Victor L Robilio Co where Chris worked in multiple facets of the company ranging from Non-Alcohol Division Manager, Operations Manager, and Wine Sales Representative. In 2007 he joined Southwestern Distributing Company as their Wine Sales Manager and served in that capacity until Southwestern was purchased by Georgia Crown Distributing Company. Chris took the role of Trade Marketing Director of Wine for two years before being promoted to Wine General Sales Manager. In April of 2017 Chris moved into the role of General Sales Manager of Tennessee Crown Distributing Co. Memphis.

George Nalley serves as the Director of the Diageo Business at Crown Distributing, overseeing trade development for Diageo spirits in Georgia and Tennessee. Before taking on this role, George held various positions in Trade Marketing, managing portfolios that included both spirits and wine. Prior to joining Crown Distributing in 2019, he spent seven years at RNDC in sales and sales management. George holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and lives in Atlanta with his family.

Danny Knight serves as a Trade Marketing Manager at Crown Distributing, responsible for the trade development for select wine and spirits in Tennessee. Danny has over 20 years of industry experience as a supplier and distributor of multiple commodities. Prior to joining Crown, he worked for Miller Brewing Company calling on Walmart’s (and the corresponding distributor partners) in a tri-state area and with Clark Beverage Group (as well as Great River Beverage Company) as a Key Account Manager, Price Communications Specialist, Product Forecast & Procurement Manager, and Operations Manager. Danny started with Crown Distributing in 2015 to help with the launch of Wine in Grocery in the state of Tennessee. Later that same year, he became the Procurement & Forecast Supervisor and built and managed that team in TN. He moved onto the Trade Marketing team in 2019 as a Programming Director dedicated to mostly suppliers from the wine commodity and in 2023, as a Trade Marketing Manager, got moved into a role overseeing the top revenue generating spirit focused suppliers outside of Diageo in Tennessee. Danny holds a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Memphis and lives in Memphis with his wife, Marjorie, of 12 years, and they have one son, Liam and a dog, Rigby.

Lee served in the role of VP of Wine Sales for the last 21 years at Beverage Control before joining the TN Trade Marketing Team. He started his career in Florida with RNDC as the Publix KAM before joining E&J Gallo in Florida. He was transferred to Georgia where he served in the role of Director of Wine for Northeast Sales for E&J Gallo. Lee later returned to RNDC as the VP of Wine and Spirits in Savanah, GA before being transferred to the RNDC Atlanta as the VP of Wine.

Chris served in the role of VP of Spirits Sales for the last 16 years at Beverage Control before joining the TN Trade Marketing Team. Chris started his career with E&J Gallo in the role of Field Marketing Manager in Florida, then went on to become the On Premise Division Manager for Florida over his 11 years with Gallo. He moved on to Charmer-Sunbelt (Breakthru Beverage) in Florida where he served in the roles of Grocery Division Manager and State Chain Manager. Chris finished his 11-year career with Charmer-Sunbelt in Colorado as the General Sales Manager of Summit Distributing (one of the three Charmer houses in Colorado).