Rocky Mount, N.C. – “Business on the Move,” a speakers series celebrating North Carolina Wesleyan College’s 50^th anniversary and featuring top corporate leaders, will get underway September 29 with guest Tom Long, president and CEO of Miller Brewing Company.

Long will speak on “Building Power Brands in a Fragmenting World” at a 12:30 p.m. luncheon at Wesleyan’s Dunn Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 at the door with reservations requested at 252-985-5140 or smcauliffe@ncwc.edu by September 24.

Long’s talk launches the “Business on the Move” series of business-related presentations planned for this fall, co-sponsored by North Carolina Wesleyan College, A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., The Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce, and Coastal Beverage Company.

Long, 47, joined Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Company on July 1, 2005, as chief marketing officer. A year later he was named president and chief executive officer of the 151-year-old company, the oldest major brewer in America and one of the largest in the world.

Long is a Roxboro, North Carolina, native and a graduate of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

After earning his MBA from Harvard Business School, he joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1988 and began at Coke’s Atlanta headquarters as manager of market planning. After five years in various management positions Long was appointed vice president of the 7-Eleven Account Team Worldwide in 1993. In 1995 he was named vice president of the Wal-Mart Global Account.

During his 17-year tenure at Coca-Cola, Long also held positions of vice president of National Sales, vice president and director of Presearch, Research and Trends, vice president and director of Global Strategic Marketing, and president of Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland. Immediately prior to joining Miller Brewing Co., Long served in London as president of  Coca Cola’s Northwest Europe Division, Coke’s largest division in Europe and the third largest in the Coca-Cola system worldwide.   

Business analysts and Miller executives anticipate that Long will bring fresh ideas to Miller Brewing Co. and help boost the beverage industry’s sales in the global marketplace.