Marvin Vines
Vice President, National Sales
Coca-Cola
Alpharetta, GA USA
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t look at failure as the end point—look at it as a learning point.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationMarvin Vines
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina.
My family all attended an HBCU, so I grew up around that culture—I chose to go to North Carolina A&T State University because I got a full scholarship to their accounting program.
Upon graduating, I got a job at Deloitte & Touche as a senior accountant.
After a few years at Deloitte & Touche, I joined Coca-Cola as a principal auditor.
I spent some time in finance for Coca-Cola before transitioning into sales—a colleague had observed that I had a good personality for sales and I really took that to heart.
I’ve spent the last 27 years working for Coca-Cola and making my way up through different positions to my current role now as vice president of national sales for the Aramark account team.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Vice President, National Sales
I lead our Aramark account team for Coca-Cola.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Numbers
Working with Others
Day to Day
I have three national account executives and a marketing manager that report to me. I also work with an operations manager. The six of us work closely together to manage the Aramark account for Coca-Cola, which has nine lines of business (i.e. higher education, dining, healthcare, sports and entertainment, etc.). I work on my own development plans and then work on development plans for my team. My main priority every day is to make sure my team has everything they need to succeed in the market.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Be active in your school. Join different organizations and participate in the culture. Work on your leadership skills by taking on leadership roles in campus organizations because that can be a difference-maker when you eventually join the workforce. If you already have an idea of where you want to end up working, don't be afraid to reach out to people who are already working in those roles. Ask how they got to where they are and what advice they can give you for your journey.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"HBCUs don't give you a picture of the real world."
