Cristina Desmond
President, Central U.S. Region
Cristina Desmond has been appointed Regional President, Central U.S. Effective June 1, Cristina will be responsible for all aspects of market and business operations performance, including growth strategies for our supplier and customer partners, for the Central U.S. Region, including Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
Cristina is a highly versatile leader with a proven track record in achieving the business objectives of Breakthru’s partners and in challenging and empowering her associates with a focus on their continued growth and development. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Cristina joined Charmer Sunbelt in 2002 and has held various roles with increasing responsibility with a focus in commercial sales, strategic planning, trade marketing and sales execution. Most recently, she served as Market EVP for Breakthru Pennsylvania where she was responsible for all market performance and business operations. Prior to that, Cristina served as Vice President, National Accounts Retail, where she managed a large team of national account directors to develop and execute growth strategies with supplier partners and customers, driving deeper channel and customer focus, along with enhanced trade marketing, pricing management and e-tailing while leveraging increased data and analytics. She also held the role of Vice President, Marketing, Retail Sales & Promotions from 2013-2019, leading commercial retail sales, marketing, headquarter chain and control sales with great success, outpacing the market channel growth.
Cristina brings her demonstrated passion for people development, culture building and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to bear in all her leadership roles and to the benefit of her team and colleagues.
Cristina received a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Temple University and completed the Women in Leadership Executive Education Program at Columbia Business School. She is a mentor with Breakthru’s Mentorship Program and a longtime supporter of the Central PA Food Bank and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Cristina currently resides in Chester Springs, PA, with her husband and two sons and their chocolate lab, Berger. She and her family will be relocating to Illinois.
Chris Sperling
Executive Vice President, Wisconsin
Chris has spent 17 total years of wholesale industry experience prior to his tenure in Wisconsin. He has had numerous roles of escalating responsibilities with Breakthru Beverage affiliate CDI and BBG South Carolina. Prior leadership roles include VP Sales SC, On Premise Sales Director SC, Division Manager of New England at CDI. Prior to BBG Chris spent 15 years in the restaurant industry where he supervised and managed all areas of operations. Chris holds a Bachelor of Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales University