Alton Shields
Board Member
A Bit About Me
Alton C. Shields is a food industry executive with over thirty-five (35) years of management and executive leadership experience in food & beverage manufacturing, packaging and restaurant operations. He has been a field and corporate operations executive for some of the largest corporate, franchise, and start‐up restaurant chains in the country, and he is now the President, CEO, & Owner of Atlanta Brewing Company, the oldest craft brewery in Georgia. A true entrepreneur at heart, Alton was the COO and Co-Owner of the Mrs. Winner’s Chicken & Biscuits franchisor, Mrs. Winner’s Holdings, Inc., which he and his partner sold in 2019. Previously, Mr. Shields was Vice President of Operations and Operations Support for the largest privately held franchise group in the world. He was also the COO, key operator, and partner in one of the largest franchise organizations of the #1 QSR Drive‐Thru chain in America (QSR Magazine, June 2005).
Alton is known as a Business Builder, a Developer of People, and tireless Community Leader. Both the Louisiana Business Partnership and the Central Louisiana DECA Club named him “Employer of the Year” while at Taco Bell Corporation. The Birmingham Business Journal recognized Alton and his team at RTM, as the “Best in the Business” for companies with more than 1000 employees for two consecutive years, and he received the “Meritorious Commendation Award” from the Birmingham City Council, 2001. Alton served as the Board Chair of Central Alabama's Promise when it received the prestigious "Community of Promise" Award in 2004 from the Points Of Light Foundation. In March 2007, Alton received the Silver Beaver Award, the highest recognition bestowed upon a volunteer for service to Scouting at the regional level. In addition, Alton was recently awarded both the Whitney M. Young, Jr., Award and the Vale La Pena Award by the Boy Scouts of America which are both national awards.
Mr. Shields is also the Founder, President & CEO of The INFINITY Cos., Inc., a multi-faceted management consulting firm with offices in Atlanta, GA and Birmingham, AL, concentrating in commercial real estate & site development, business brokering, capital acquisition and small business development. He is married to the lovely Sylvia A. Burley‐Shields and has one adult son, Evan.