Bruce Pearl, VP of Marketing, H.T. Hackney Co.
Knoxville, Tenn. – Knoxville, Tenn.-based H.T. Hackney Co. announced today that it has hired former University of Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl as Vice President, Marketing beginning Sept. 1, 2011.
Pearl, who was a Marketing and Economics major at Boston College School of Management, brings freshness, enthusiasm and a strategic vision to the company according to Chairman and CEO Bill Sansom.
Bill Sansom, Chairman & CEO, H.T. Hackney Co.
“H.T. Hackney is a great company that has been doing things right for a long time,” Sansom said. “I’ve known Bruce Pearl for years – his leadership, competitiveness and understanding of marketing is a great fit for our organization.”
Pearl said the decision came down to a handful of important factors. “I worked for 33 years – my entire coaching career – to get to a place like Knoxville,” Pearl said. “This is where my family lives, this is home. We have made life-long friends here and we are very blessed to have this opportunity.”
Pearl, who coached the Volunteers for six seasons, has two children who graduated from the University of Tennessee and currently work in the Knoxville area. He also has two children still in high school. His wife Brandy is a Sevier County native.
“It took a company like H.T. Hackney with a leader like Bill Sansom to attract me. As a coach, I know the importance of being a team player. It is my goal to assist our sales and marketing staff to better serve our customers, vendors and to grow our business.”
H.T. Hackney is, according to Forbes magazine, the 82nd largest privately held company in America with annual revenues of about $4 billion. The company is involved in wholesale grocery (including a potato chip company, a bottled water company, and a food commissary), gas and oil, and furniture manufacturing.
Bruce Pearl left the University of Tennessee with a record of 145-61 (65-31 in SEC play), making him the winningest coach in the SEC during his time in Knoxville. Pearls’ accomplishments as a Volunteer also include three SEC East Championships, a 22-14 record against Florida, Memphis and Vanderbilt, six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances – a school first for the men’s program – and achieving the first No. 1 ranking for the Vols in program history. In 2010, Tennessee made its first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight under Pearl’s guidance.
Founded in 1891, H. T. Hackney provides numerous services and delivers more than 25,000 items such as frozen foods, health and beauty items, and deli products. For more than 100 years H. T. Hackney has supplied its customers with everything they need to be successful. The company says it is a leading distributor in the market because of its superior customer service and competitive prices.
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