What I Learned as a Zone Sales Leader Designate

The Zone Sales Director is a pivotal role within PepsiCo Foods North America (PFNA). Each Zone Sales Director is responsible for leading a multimillion-dollar division within PFNA that has over 200 team members and bridges the line between frontline workers and leadership.

To make sure that ideal candidates are filling these roles, PFNA created the Zone Sales Leader Designate (ZSLD) program. It’s a unique opportunity within the company that recruits outstanding midcareer sales professionals from a variety of fields.

Each Designate receives several months of paid training to get a full 360-degree understanding of the role and a ground-level introduction to the types of employees they’ll lead. The program also offers mentorship, community support, career coaching and a fast track to leadership roles within PepsiCo.

Meet two current Zone Sales Directors who came from very different backgrounds, but were both recruited to be Designates. Find out what they learned as they took on this exciting challenge.

“I thought the military had a lock on leadership.”

Kevin Berry
Zone Sales Director, Washington, D.C.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an Army helicopter pilot just like my dad. At one point, we actually lived on what’s called the “flight line,” so I could see my dad get into his helicopter and he would wave at me as he flew off.

And I got to live my dream. I went to West Point, and I flew Apache helicopters. But growing up as an Army kid and being a part of the military taught me a lot.

First, I moved around quite a bit. I was born in Germany, moved to North Carolina and then back to Germany. That allowed me to get along with just about anyone — I was really blessed to be able to see different perspectives of the world as a kid.

When I was in the Army, I was always able to tell somebody that I needed something, and they would help me out, and I didn’t have to double-check to make sure it happened. I had the mindset of “If I’m getting an A, we’re all going to get an A.” And those things have made me perfectly suited for being a Designate and then a Zone Sales Director.

As a Designate, you’re up at 2 or 3 a.m. to get on a truck and run delivery routes — my wife thought it was crazy. As a Zone Director, you can literally be in a store on your hands and knees, helping a store owner remove a dead rat, and then two hours later, I’m sitting in a meeting with my VP explaining our business strategy. The spectrum swings that much in a given day. But I love it. I love change, and my childhood set me up well for it.

The other thing I love about being a Zone Director — that reminds me of the military — is how the other Zone Leaders look out for each other. One scary thing about this job is you realize you have the controls to succeed or fail every week. Your decisions can either make or break your Zone. And while we’re all competitive, we all support each other.

When I took over the Zone, it was right on the eve of an epic snowstorm. My mentor, Jay, called me to make sure I knew how to prepare — he even copied me on all his notes to his own team. Even now, he calls to check in on me to see how I’m doing.

I knew that this job was for me when I went into my own role and my mentor still wanted me to succeed — even though he and I were now competing against each other. It tells you so much about the culture.

But here’s what I learned about PepsiCo and Frito-Lay and why this place is so strong: When you’re in the military, you think you have a lock on leadership. But when I joined Frito-Lay and I met my first couple of bosses, I thought, these people are unreal. The people in this company are phenomenal. They’ll match the military easily. It’s just amazing leadership and that makes all the difference.

“It taught me resilience and gave me that determination to build my own team.”

Barbara Schwartz
Zone Sales Director, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

In college I was a psychology major, and I had planned to go into that field either academically or professionally. Then I was at a career fair and met this phenomenal retail recruiter.

When she learned I was a psychology major, she said, “Well, you must like people.” Then she found out I was into sports and liked being part of a team — and she just wove together this picture of how working in retail is all about guiding people and developing their talents and creating teams. I loved that idea. So I started in retail and worked my way from the ground up.

When I was approached about becoming a Designate, what appealed to me first was that, once again, I’d get to learn from the ground up. I loved that Frito-Lay was willing to put so much into my training. I got to spend almost nine months learning the ins and outs of every role that reported to me. Not many companies would do that, and, to me it was extremely beneficial.

The final thing that hit it home — and made me certain I wanted the job — was getting to go on the job with another Zone Sales Director. That gave me a full-on preview of the role. And I was really excited about the opportunity after seeing that Zone and interacting with the front-line workers and the district sales leads because it was just smart people. It was the type of team that I wanted to lead and the hands-on type of environment that I like to work in.

I love to be hands-on. I enjoy being active, and I’m curious about how companies work, because I want to be able to help my team. If one of my employees comes to me for help, I want to be able to remove that obstacle or tell them, “Hey, here’s another way to do it.” So riding routes in the truck, meeting with district sales leaders — all of that was huge for me.

When I took on my Zone, we were severely understaffed from a front-line perspective. It was hard to recruit, because unemployment in my area was so low. But my HR lead and I just dug in. We did the research. We figured out how to fix it, and I got the support I needed from my supervisors.

It was a tough way to start — and I had to drive a lot of routes. More than I’d ever signed up for. I remember pulling into a restaurant on the Michigan–Wisconsin border during a snowstorm and nearly crying from the stress. But it taught me resilience and gave me the determination to build my own team.

That experience solidified my love for this job. The great part about the Zone role is the autonomy. We get to run our business and develop our teams. And it’s awesome. I like to lead a diverse mix of people. I love having blue-collar front-line team members along with college graduates. The diversity of thought and the ability to build and support that talent is just really exciting to me. And I’ve learned that is what I love: being able to build my ideal team.