Susan B. McCollum is a leading executive in the beverage distribution business. She is the CEO and owner of two Florida beer distributors, Eagle Brands Sales and Double Eagle Distributing and was formerly the owner and CEO of Major Brands, Inc. Born at Sisters of Charity hospital, she is a proud Buffalo native and graduate of Amherst Central High School. She attended her first Buffalo Bills game with her dad at War Memorial Stadium against the Houston Oilers. With the opening of Rich Stadium, her family, along with her cousins, aunts, and uncles, bought season tickets alongside one another in the end zone. They bundled up, filled their thermoses with hot chocolate and drove to the games on the Christ the King parish bus. Continuing the tradition, she still gathers with family—from siblings to grandnieces and nephews—at Bills games, sometimes bringing along a Bills Mafia recruit as well. A Steve Tasker-autographed Sports Illustrated, a custom BFLO Washington, D.C., license plate, and a Josh Allen-inspired drawing by her great nephew Jack line her office walls.
McCollum studied broadcast journalism in college, where she covered sports for the American University student newspaper and interned in the sports department of WTTG-TV. Those experiences led to her first professional job out of college, where she was a production assistant for the Mutual Radio Network, working on NFL broadcasts and other sports programming. She returned to school to earn an MBA, while serving as the Director of Special Events and Media Relations at American University. Following a move to the Midwest, she became the Director of Public Affairs at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and an independent marketing and communications consultant. She began attending Washington University School of Law just weeks before she joined Major Brands to assist with the management of the family business after her husband was diagnosed with brain cancer. She graduated from law school in 2015.
McCollum has been recognized for her business and philanthropic partnerships. She and professional ballroom dance instructor Senzo Makhaye won the St. Louis Dancing with the Stars crown in 2014, benefiting the Independence Center of St. Louis and impressing her sons. She was the first recipient of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America Women's Leadership Council Icon Award in 2018. She received a Heartland Region Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was named an EY Family Business National Entrepreneur of the Year Award Finalist that same year. In 2023, she was honored by the Missouri Restaurant Association with its first Friend of the Industry Award, and Washington University School of Law recognized her with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2024.
“Growing up, the Buffalo Bills and family were synonymous. Going to the games with family, cutting confetti from the Sunday comics, and greeting the team at the airport on a frigid early morning are some of my fondest memories. Being a Bills fan and from Buffalo taught me to always keep shoveling. Be resilient, be persistent and be proud of who you are and where you come from, no matter the score. It’s being part of something bigger that matters. Go Bills!” Sue McCollum