Beam Suntory, Bacardi, Lion, and Swire Coca-Cola USA are among those appointing new people to top jobs this month.
Beam Suntory, Bacardi, Lion, and Swire Coca-Cola USA are among those appointing new people to top jobs this month.
Pic:getty/oatawa
Beam Suntory has named Victoria Russell as its first Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer.
In this newly created role, Russell will join the company’s Senior Leadership Team and lead diversity and inclusion across talent acquisition, career development and employee retention, marketing, community relations, and building organizational capability to better recognize bias and further drive inclusive mindset. Russell will also support the development of diversity guidelines for the company’s supplier base and will work directly with Employee Impact Groups and leaders across the business.
Russell will join Beam Suntory in January following 14 years at Louisville, KY-based Papa John’s International, ultimately being the first to lead Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the brand.
Prior to Papa Johns, Russell held compensation and marketing roles at Lexmark, Humana, and Brown-Forman. She has been recognized as a “Woman Making a Difference,” and selected as one of Louisville’s 40 Under 40.
Lion has appointed Anubha Sahasrabuddhe as Consumer & Brand Director.
Sahasrabuddhe will run marketing for Australia and lead the Consumer Global Centre of Excellence across Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK.
Sahasrabuddhe will start the role early next year, returning to Australia after more than 20 years in global marketing leadership roles across North America and Asia Pacific. She is currently Global Vice President of Chocolate at Mars, based in the US, and has held a number of senior positions including Global Vice President, Wrigley in the US and China.
Prior to her career at Mars and Wrigley, Sahasrabuddhe worked for Coca-Cola in New Zealand, Hong Kong, China and the Philippines.
James Brindley, Managing Director, Lion Australia, said: “Born and raised just outside of Sydney, Sahasrabuddhe will return to Australia after a truly global career that saw her live in eight cities over the past 17 years. This world-wide perspective will be invaluable to Lion as the company focuses on the rebound of the adult beverages sector in 2021 following the heavy impact of COVID-19 restrictions during 2020.”
Bacardi has named Mauricio Vergara as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of PATRÓN.
Having been with Bacardi for seven years, Vergara has a diverse background serving in leadership positions across marketing, commercial and general management in both mature and emerging markets.
Most recently, Vergara was as Managing Director for Bacardi-Martini Australia and New Zealand, and led the international integration of ultra-premium tequila PATRÓN following the acquisition of the brand and company by Bacardi in 2018.
His career at Bacardi has spanned the globe: with jobs in Mexico City, Miami, London, Sydney and Bermuda. His roles have included leading BACARDÍ and GREY GOOSE globally, managing commercial businesses in Latin America and in the US, and heading up global commercial and customer marketing teams.
Vergara will return to Bacardi’s global headquarters in Bermuda, and will also spend time in Switzerland at the PATRÓN headquarters. Vergara will report to Chief Executive Officer Mahesh Madhavan and joins the company’s Global Leadership Team.
Mahesh Madhavan, CEO, Bacardi Limited, said: “Tequila is one of the fastest growing and most attractive categories in the spirits industry, and PATRÓN is the clear market leader in the super-premium space. Mauricio is a highly collaborative and innovative leader with an impressive track record of success across multiple disciplines, brands and markets. In his new role, he will work closely with our regional leaders and brand and operations teams to accelerate growth in the well-established U.S. market, while leading expansion internationally where consumers are starting to discover and love premium tequila.”
Britvic has appointed Tom Fiennes as its new Commercial Sustainability Director for Great Britain.
With more than 25 years of FMCG experience, Fiennes is currently Britvic’s Director of Strategic Change Programmes. He has previously held roles at Heineken, Carlsberg, Premier Foods and Mars.
Fiennes will be responsible for delivering Britvic’s ‘Healthier People Healthier Planet’ strategy through a focus on packaging, water and carbon programmes, as well as employees and communities. He is also the chairperson of the LGBTQ+ network, B-Proud, and a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee at Britvic.
Paul Graham, Managing Director, Britvic, said: “Tom has a passion for sustainability and mentorship, so I have no doubt that he will make this role his own and help the business to not only meet and exceed our sustainability targets, but also help to further enhance our inclusivity programmes and policies.
“We recently announced our intention to make all of our plastic bottles in GB from 100% recycled plastic (rPET) by the end of 2022 – surpassing our previous target of 50% rPET by 2025. Tom’s qualifications in coaching in and outside of work will help him guide and collaborate with his team to drive this target forward and I look forward to working with him on this, and many other projects.”
Fiennes succeeds Trystan Farnworth, who has taken on the new role of Commercial Director for Britvic in Ireland.
Jack Pelo, Swire Coca-Cola’s President and CEO for the past 24 years, will retire at the end of this year. Rob Gehring, currently Chief Operating Officer, will assume the President and CEO role beginning January 1, 2021.
When Pelo became President and CEO in 1996, Swire Coca-Cola, USA employed close to 1,600 people in the intermountain west.
Now, the company has 7,200 employees in 13 states that stretch between the Mexican and Canadian borders and from the Pacific Ocean to the plains of Nebraska.
“Under Pelo’s leadership, Swire Coca-Cola, USA has grown to become a top, data-driven manufacturer, distributor and seller of Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, Monster Energy and Body Armor products in the US,” says the company.
Following his retirement, Pelo plans to spend time with his growing family.
Pelo will also continue to serve on the Board of Directors of Swire Pacific Holdings, the American Beverage Association, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers Association.
Incoming CEO Rob Gehring joined Swire Coca-Cola, USA in 2018.
He is a veteran in the Coca-Cola system and former Global Chief Sales Officer for The Hershey Company.
At The Coca-Cola Company, Gehring served as President of the Walmart Global Team leading the team managing the relationship with Walmart and Sam’s Club and the respective Coca-Cola bottlers in 28 countries. Gehring has held several other roles within the Coca-Cola system including Vice President of Sales in the Canadian and Western US business units.
Swire Coca-Cola, USA is a part of Swire Coca-Cola Limited, the fifth largest bottling partner of The Coca-Cola Company by global volume. Swire Coca-Cola Limited itself is part of Swire Pacific Limited, a Hong Kong-based international conglomerate with a diversified portfolio of market leading businesses.
Wine app Vivino is appointing Joshua Lincoln as its first UK Managing Director.
The company – the world’s largest online wine marketplace and most downloaded wine app – says it has put growth in the UK at the top of its list of business priorities.
Lincoln joins Paul Jones, Vivino’s Director of Buying and Supply in the UK, who has been with Vivino since 2017. Lincoln will lead Vivino’s development in the market, focusing on expanding its marketplace of independent wine retailers and unlocking its potential for Vivino’s 2.2 million UK users to access and drink better wine.
Lincoln is the former Managing Director at Majestic Wine and a founding member of Naked Wines. Under his leadership, Majestic Wine grew its customer base significantly every year, built a substantial subscription business from scratch, and launched a personalised communication strategy.
Vivino was founded in 2010 by Heini Zachariassen and Theis Søndergaard out of frustration that there was no easy way to understand which wines were worth buying. Building momentum over ten consecutive years of growth, Vivino sold over £100m of wine globally in 2019 and is on track to double that in 2020, powered by a community of 46 million wine enthusiasts worldwide. The five-star Vivino Rating system is considered the world’s largest consumer voice on wine.
As part of the company’s UK strategy, two former Majestic Wine directors will join Lincoln. Natalie Th’ng and Nicholas Bell, each bringing over 15 years of retail and consultancy experience, have also joined the Vivino team in London.
Bell is the former Commercial Finance Director at Majestic Wine. He managed the FP&A Business Intelligence and Property teams and led the £95m sale of Majestic Wine to Fortress in 2019. Th’ng is the former Customer Director at Majestic Wine.