Brian Beach founded Beachside Strategy to help leadership teams as they develop the vision and model for innovation and transformation, while overcoming internal obstacles and dealing with rapidly-changing customer and employee expectations.
Brian was most recently senior vice president, customer experience and Sysco Labs at Sysco Corporation, a global company with annual sales of $75+ billion, making it the largest food distributor in the world. He was part of the executive leadership team, responsible for innovation strategy, digital transformation, CX, and enterprise analytics. Brian created Sysco’s model for innovation and change through Sysco Labs, which he grew to around 700 associates in Silicon Valley, Austin, Houston, and Sri Lanka.
Brian established the CX function at Sysco, leveraging design thinking and voice of customer to map and then reimagine customer journeys. Brian’s teams led digital transformation and developed a portfolio of customer-facing solutions, including a new ecommerce platform that generated annualized revenue of $12 billion within six months of launch. He established Sysco’s first enterprise analytics team to develop descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive models to impact customer behavior and experience, and to generate value for the company.
In his nearly ten years at Sysco, Brian also led business development, customer segment strategy, and corporate ventures.
Prior to Sysco, Brian was the senior vice president for administration and business ventures at the University of Florida, a $6+ billion, top-5 public university. In that role, he was the senior executive responsible for all operations and administrative areas (including the CFO, CIO, HR, and business operations functions). He brought a strategy and innovation mindset to the organization, and he established the first central technology function and VP-level CIO at UF. As chief of staff to the president, Brian directed strategic initiatives for the president and board, including the goal to reach top-10 among public universities.
Prior to his role at UF, Brian held executive roles in venture capital and investment banking, and he began his career as a consultant for EY/Ernst & Young. He has extensive board experience, having served on several boards and through frequent interaction with the boards at Sysco and UF. He currently sits on the boards of the University Athletic Association at UF and Experience Camps, a national organization focused on childhood grief.
Brian attained his MBA and Bachelor of Science (Finance), with highest honors, from the University of Florida.