Chairman’s Message

A newly created marketing division at Virginia ABC will enhance customer focus. The division will develop and manage our agency marketing and promotions functions in areas that include promotions planning and analysis, store branding, and product planning and performance.

Marketing will provide vital support for our revenue growth objectives as well as our service improvement strategies. The new division is being staffed by moving employees from other areas (Retail and Logistics) to marketing. Down the road, the ABC Board will look at additional funding for hiring one to two additional employees.

Marketing Director John L. Shiffer said he is thrilled to be leading ABC’s marketing efforts into the future by building relationships with industry partners and better serving our retail customers with innovative products and services.

Shiffer, who began at ABC in March, earned an M.B.A. in marketing and finance from the University of Chicago and has more than 20 years experience in strategic marketing and new product development. His past employment includes an 11-year stint with Reynolds Consumer Products and seven years with the Virginia Lottery.

His most recent endeavors include serving as an independent marketing consultant for Capital One Financial Corporation and co-chairing WCVE Public Broadcasting’s marketing committee for its annual fundraising campaign.

The decision to create a marketing division to lead the agency’s product placement and marketing efforts brings Virginia ABC in line with best practices in other control states.

Shiffer is involved with the Product Management Committee which continues to enhance the agency’s abilities to identify and react to rapid changes in the marketplace. The committee is performing process evaluations of listings, delistings, slow movers, item expansion and discounts.

We are also working on an innovative new store design which will totally change the look of our stores as they open or are modernized. ABC is committed to providing service and revenue to the citizens of the Commonwealth while balancing control and upholding public safety.

J. Neal Insley, Chairman
Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control