|
Jim Jernigan was born and raised in Panama City, Florida. After graduating from Bay County High School, he furthered his education at Gulf Coast Community College and the University of West Florida, earning a degree in Accounting in 1978.
Jim began his career with a public accounting firm until September 1980 when he joined Byrd & Son Beverages, the local Pepsi-Cola Panama City franchise. Jim progressively instituted computerized office applications and hand-held computers and was promoted to Controller and then Secretary/Treasurer of that franchise in 1985.
Buffalo Rock acquired Byrd & Son in November 1986 and Jim became the Administrative Operations Manager. In 1991, he transferred to the same position for the largest Buffalo Rock distribution center in Birmingham. In 1993, he was promoted to General Administrative Operations Manager and in 2002, to Division Support Manager, which included the additional management of the Marketing Equipment and Service departments.
In 2004, Jim was promoted to the Corporate Administrative team in the capacity of General Manager - Financial Operations. In this role he managed all Administrative and Information Technologies areas across the company. During this period, Jim and his team have updated and implemented new processes and equipment in order to provide state-of-the-art inventory, sales and delivery systems in the beverage industry. In 2007, Jim advanced to Executive General Manager - Financial Operations and in January 2008 was promoted to Vice President - Administration, Technology and Strategic Support. Jim is an integral part of the company's Executive Leadership Team.
He also serves on two national teams under the direction of the Pepsi Cola Bottlers Association; ITCOM (Information Technology Committee) and CONBILL (Consolidated Billing Committee).
Jim and his wife, Laurie, have three children; Jay, Dan and Leesa. They reside in Hoover, AL where they are active members at Hunter Street Baptist Church. Jim enjoys spending time with family, traveling, golfing, hunting, Auburn football games, classic automobiles and water activities. | 