Reyes Beverage Group said it hired Brian Albenze to oversee the markets it is acquiring from Republic National Distributing Co. (RNDC): Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington DC.

“He will work closely with Reyes Beverage Group leadership across both the corporate and division teams as part of this new role. Brian brings more than 30 years of beverage alcohol distribution and supplier partnership experience, with deep expertise across sales leadership, commercial strategy and operating execution.

“Most recently, he served at Breakthru Beverage Group as executive vice president – united division, leading strategy, profitable growth and talent development for a division dedicated to the Diageo and Moët Hennessy USA portfolios.

Reyes has 55 distribution facilities in the US, employing more than 10,000 people. It is also the largest beer distributor in the US.

The company expects the RNDC transaction, which will be its largest acquisition to date, to close at the end of May.

“This acquisition reflects our commitment to always evolving our business,” Jimmy Reyes, president of Reyes Holdings, said of the deal. “Our team is built to execute and win in this space.”