Brandon Underwood, 38
Regional manager
Covington, Louisiana
Brandon Underwood’s career in the pool industry has been defined by steady growth and a focus on people. Since joining POOLCORP in 2018 as a sales center manager in San Antonio, he has climbed the leadership ranks, moving to zone manager a year later and expanding his oversight to multiple Texas markets. By 2021, his responsibilities stretched across Austin, San Antonio, New Braunfels and Corpus Christi. In 2022, he was promoted to regional manager, leading sales and operations across central and south Texas.
“My favorite part of working for POOLCORP is the culture we have as a whole,” Underwood says. “At the center of this is our employees and our commitment to ensure they learn and grow. We call this being Employer of Choice. For us it isn’t just a tagline but something we live day in and day out.” He finds equal motivation in working closely with customers, learning about their businesses and daily challenges, and helping them solve problems through seamless service.
Underwood points to a standout moment when his region earned widespread recognition at POOLCORP’s President’s Club Awards. “We had four team members in our region win. It was a lot of fun getting to go on the trip as a team and celebrate our accomplishments in 2023,” Underwood says. For him, the recognition was most meaningful because it was shared with the colleagues who contributed to the achievement.
The pandemic proved the most difficult test of his career, with supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, price spikes and uncertainty pressing on every side. Underwood credits patience, persistence and a focus on relationships for guiding his team through. “Transparency and communication were key here and although not perfect, our customers knew we were working hard to take care of them and increase their profitability,” he says. Internally, he pushed for higher pay to retain talent and expanded the workforce to meet demand without burning out staff. Above all, he leaned on listening. “As a leader you have to listen to understand rather than listening to respond,” Underwood says. “Be the leader people want to follow.”
Looking ahead, Underwood hopes to continue advancing with POOLCORP while developing the next generation of leaders. He sees technology as a key frontier for the industry. “As an industry, we’re behind on technology and some of the newer technology that has come out has had slow adoption,” he notes, pointing to POOLCORP’s Pool360 Ecosystem as a step forward.
Underwood’s life is full with a bustling household of five children. He and his wife, already parents to three biological and one adopted child, recently finalized the adoption of their youngest daughter, who first came into their care as a foster baby at just eight days old. “This is our way of serving our community and following the path God has put us on,” he says. Much of his free time is spent at baseball fields, softball tournaments or ballet recitals, and he credits his wife with keeping their “small basketball team” moving in the right direction.
