John Sherman, president and CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. (UNITED) since 2016, retired on Sunday.

His retirement marks the end of a more than 40-year career with the company. However, Sherman will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors as vice chairman.

Today, Coca-Cola UNITED has more than 50 distribution and production facilities throughout the southeast in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, and employs more than 10,000 associates.

Sherman oversaw and completed a multi-year expansion that more than tripled the size of the company as the corporate senior vice president and chief commercial officer.

Claude Nielsen, chairman of Coca-Cola UNITED’s board of directors, said in a release, “John is a highly regarded and extraordinarily accomplished leader in our industry. Known for his unflagging professionalism, commitment to excellence and his passion for our associates and our customers has been instrumental in driving UNITED’s growth. His legacy will live on through the many lives he has touched and inspired along his four decades with the Coca-Cola System.”

According to the announcement, Sherman was named corporate senior vice president and chief commercial officer in 2013. In that role, he was responsible for leading the reorganization of Coca-Cola UNITED’s legacy operating units and overseeing the transition and integration of current and new franchise operations throughout a six-state footprint.

Sherman’s service to the community has not been limited to Coca-Cola. He serves on the board of advisors of the Brock School of Business at Samford University, the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board at Georgia Tech, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama’s board of directors.

In the community, he is on the board of directors of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the Birmingham Business Alliance and Prosper Birmingham.

Sherman plans to continue to live in the Birmingham area upon his retirement.