Alexis Atkins has seen a lot of changes in the beer industry over the past 46 years.

But, to her, it’s the people who matter – from her position as vice president of human resources/principal in co-ownership of Mobile’s Budweiser Busch Distributing to her post as vice chair of the University of South Alabama Board of Trustees to past chair of Feeding the Gulf Coast.

She moved to Mobile from her hometown of St. Louis to work for her father, Al Fuchs Jr. when he bought the Budweiser Busch distributing franchise in Mobile in 1965.

That was when beer distributors only sold beer and tobacco products. Today, the company distributes Eleven 86 water and several large national non-alcoholic brands, such as energy drinks.

“When my father bought the business, it was a very small distributorship,” she said. “It was primarily a distributor of cigarettes and cigars, but the owner at the time took on some
Anheuser-Busch products. Initially, we were a full-bodied beer distributor, and we only sold three Anheuser-Busch brands. By comparison, today we work with 45 different suppliers and craft beer breweries.

“But, in the past 15 to 20 years, the nation has become very health conscious, preferring lighter beers like Michelob Light and low carb seltzers.”

And then there is the rise of craft beers, which has been the most significant change locally and nationally.

“Craft made a very big difference in our business, but in a good way,” she said. “We are
associated with several different beer breweries in Alabama: Braided River Brewing in Mobile; Ghost Train Brewing in Birmingham; Fairhope Brewing Co.; Back Forty Beer Co. in Birmingham; and Black Warrior Brewing in Tuscaloosa.

“So, we represent craft beers from different cities across Alabama and the sales department has a new slogan, ‘Local is the new craft’,” she said.

Building these other brands was a slow process, Atkins said, but it all comes down to relationships, which she said is another key to their success.

“Growing up in a family business and being an HR manager, it is always the people who are the real secret of our success,” Atkins said. “I am proud to say we have provided income and jobs for a lot of families through years.

“We have a very good history with employment. For the first 35 years, when someone came to work for us, they stayed with us for years, which is how it developed into a family business – not just our own family, but the employees became part of that extended family.

She said up until about 10 years ago in fact, people had an attitude of, “get a good job with
benefits and stay there until you retire.”

“And we still have a lot of employees who have been with us a long time, but without sounding like an ‘older person’, there is a different attitude about it,” she said. “That is not to mean these younger people are not doing a great job because they are in my opinion, but it has been changing for the past 10 years and you have to change with it.”

But despite rising to all the challenges the industry and contemporary lifestyles throw at them, the growth in sales has been by far the company’s proudest milestone.

“We sell approximately 4.5 million cases of beer and non-alcoholic beverages annually, and that’s a lot,” she said.

Furthermore, Atkins said, Anheuser-Busch spends a significant amount of money every year on programs that promote responsible drinking.

She said they bring in speakers who go out and talk to kids at schools from sixth-grade through high school about responsible drinking; they educate their retailers about responsible vending practices and teach servers and bartenders how to responsibly handle people who are drinking.

“We have a variety of programs, some of which I have taught myself, and it is very, very
important to us as a company that we promote responsible drinking throughout the
community.”

How does a busy, successful businesswoman settle into ‘semi’ retirement?

“Now I have more time to focus on my volunteer work, which I love, but I still go into the office periodically to check on things – just so they don’t forget who I am,” she said. “Most of the people who work in HR have been with the company a good many years, so that has made them more to me than just employees. They have become friends, and I care about them, and their families and I still enjoy seeing them.”

She still sits on the company Board and attends meetings, and she is still involved in the
company’s retirement and 401k plans, but she said she really enjoys having more time for
volunteer work.

In fact, Atkins is very active in volunteer work. She is on the University of South Alabama’s Jaguar Athletic Fund board, the USA Mitchell College of Business board of advisors, is a member of the South Alabama National Alumni Association, Executive Women International, and she is past chair of Feeding the Gulf Coast, an organization close to her heart.

Several years after dropping out of college to move to Mobile and work for her dad, Atkins
decided to go back to school. She was a single mother raising two kids and working fulltime, helping her mother with the business after her father died.

She did not know it at the time, but it would lead to her deep involvement with the University of South Alabama, and one of the volunteer projects she enjoys the most.

“I really did not need a degree, but it was a personal goal I wanted to accomplish,” she said. “I was not active on campus or involved in any way with the University. I was just a student.

“I graduated from South Alabama in 1997 and a couple years later, a year friend put my name up for nomination to the USA alumni board. I was hesitant. ‘Are you sure?’ I asked him. Board members are usually deeply involved with the university.”

But he was adamant that she would do a good job.

“I was on the alumni board for a while and worked my way up to president,” she said. “I really enjoyed it; I mean I loved it. It was a completely different perspective on the school, and I was fascinated by it.”

Atkins said she was term-limited and several years passed when another friend nominated her for the USA Board of Trustees. That position must be approved by the governor and in 2016, she went on the Board of Trustees and is vice chair.

“I can’t tell you how much I enjoy it. My heart is totally into it and when I think about what I knew about the university as an alumni president, that was nothing compared to what I have learned as a trustee,” she said.

USA Health owns two hospitals — USA Health University Hospital and USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital, along with the Mitchell Cancer Institute and the USA Health physician
practices.

“They have contributed so much to improve the lives of people on the Gulf Coast, and I am so honored to be a part of it,” she said.