Pernod Ricard and Distill Ventures are among the companies welcoming new faces to top jobs.
Pernod Ricard and Distill Ventures are among the companies welcoming new faces to top jobs.
Distill Ventures has appointed Heidi Dillon, currently Managing Director of North America, as the drinks accelerator’s new Chief Executive.
Current Chief Executive, Frank Lampen, will continue to work in the business in his new role as Founder and Chair.
“Since 2020, Heidi has successfully led DV’s US business, and as Chief Executive, she will build on her track record, keeping DV on the leading edge of emerging drinks trends and finding and developing the most talented founders and their brands,” says Distill Ventures.
“Heidi has played a central role in building DV’s non-alcoholic drinks practice and has helped to shape perceptions of the segment, notably supporting the US growth of non-alcoholic brand Seedlip, prior to it moving into the Diageo portfolio, and the launch of Ritual Zero Proof.
“Heidi has also led the creation and launch of DV’s ‘Pre-Accelerator’ program, which seeks to improve access to seed funding for entrepreneurs from historically underrepresented communities. 15 brands have received investment from Diageo through this programme since its inception in July 2021.”
Under Frank Lampen’s leadership, Distill Ventures’ portfolio has expanded across ‘high-growth and disruptive categories’ and it now employs more than 500 people across the US, Japan, Europe and Australia.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer, DV’s partnership with Diageo has facilitated five acquisitions by Diageo, including non-alcoholic distilled spirit Seedlip, Australian cold brew coffee liqueur Mr Black, Japanese rice whisky Kikori and German vermouth Belsazar.
Pernod Ricard UK’s Managing Director, David Haworth, will retire at the end of August 2023, following a 34 year career with Pernod Ricard in multiple markets and leadership roles.
Julia Massies, currently Chief Financial Officer of Pernod Ricard EMEA & LATAM, will replace David Haworth as Managing Director, Pernod Ricard UK.
Massies will become Managing Director, Pernod Ricard UK from September 1st. She joined Pernod Ricard in 2001 as Business Development Manager, after five years of consulting experience in the UK, Brazil and France. She has since held various senior finance roles in Pernod Ricard UK and at Pernod Ricard HQ as VP, Financial Communication and Investor Relations, before being promoted to CFO of Pernod Ricard EMEA & LATAM in 2021.
UK natural source water brand, Highland Spring Group, has announced that Mark Steven – currently join managing director of the business alongside Simon Oldham – will retire in July.
Simon Oldham becomes the sole managing director of the company.
Oldham has over 25 years of FMCG commercial experience having begun his career at Procter & Gamble and has held previous roles in Sales, Marketing and Commercial planning functions including at Whyte & Mackay where he ran the UK Commercial team as Managing Director. He joined Highland Spring Group in 2010, originally as Sales Director, and was appointed Joint Managing Director with Mark Steven in August 2021.
“Mark and Simon have together successfully navigated the business through and beyond COVID, and other challenging market conditions in the last two years,” notes Highland Spring Group.
C&C Group has announced that David Forde will step down as Chief Executive Officer. Patrick McMahon, Group CFO, becomes Group CEO with immediate effect.
Forde was announced as CEO of C&C Group in 2020 after 32 years with Heineken. He is no longer a Director at the company, but will remain available to help ensure a smooth handover of responsibilities.
McMahon has held a number of senior management positions within the food and beverage sector across the UK, Ireland and North America over the past 15 years. Having originally joined C&C in 2005 his previous roles include Group Finance Director, Finance Director of a number of C&C’s business units, Group Strategy Director, Group CFO (since 2020) and now currently, Group CEO and CFO. Patrick is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, having trained at KPMG.
Ralph Findlay, chair, has been appointed Executive Chair to support the management transition as McMahon will also retain his responsibilities as CFO until a new CFO is appointed.
C&C Group is a premium drinks company manufacturing, marketing and distributing branded beer, cider, wine, spirits and soft drinks in the UK and Ireland.
Amber Beverage Group (ABG) has appointed Alejandro Reynoso as Agricultural Director of its Amber Agave division in Mexico.
Amber Agave manages over 400 hectares of Blue Weber Agave fields. Reynoso and his team will work with the Amber Production Tequila team to ensure field-to-bottle control over the company's agave production.
Amber Production Tequila produces ABG's flagship core brands, KAH Tequila and Rooster Rojo Tequila. The division also produces a number of other third party tequila brands.
Reynoso has experience in leading multicultural teams across a number of industry sectors, including consumer goods, agriculture, technology, automotive, and public services. Previously, he spent seven years as Agriculture Operations Senior Manager and Agriculture Strategic Planning Manager at Diageo.
Reynoso said: "I am excited to join the talented team in Mexico and I am eager to collaborate with colleagues to assure the supply of agave in the short and long term. I will be looking to help achieve quality throughout the crop cycle to enable us to harvest the greatest number of kilos of sugar for Tequila production. We'll be adopting technological and digital strategies to optimize the harvest and production, starting almost immediately with a review of crop nutrition during the rainy season which runs from June to October.
"I'm also excited to maintain and build strategic relationships with other agave producers, suppliers, universities, and with regulatory and government bodies."
Among his other strategic and logistics duties, Reynoso will represent ABG at The Tequila National Chamber; CNIT; and The Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) and its technical committees.
Treatt, a manufacturer and supplier of natural extracts and ingredients for the beverage, flavor and fragrance industries, has announced that Chief Commercial Officer, Douglas Rash will retire in September 2023.
Gavin Patrick, US Sales Director (pictured above) has been appointed VP of Global Sales, effective immediately.
Douglas Rash has led the commercial team at Treatt for the past 13 years, playing a key role in the Group’s sustained growth, transitioning the company from F&F ingredients focused, to a natural extracts manufacturer targeting the global beverage industry. During Douglas’ tenure, the US facility expanded in Lakeland, with the UK facility moving to a new, fit for purpose green-field site.
Gavin Patrick brings with him more than 15 years of sales experience. “Gavin’s extensive industry knowledge of beverage ingredients and growth within the Group will provide a great level of leadership for the team to support Treatt into the next phase of growth,” says the company.
Diageo has brought forward the appointment of Debra Crew as CEO, with current CEO Ivan Menezes in hospital.
Crew had been due to start as CEO in July, moving up from her current position as chief operating officer.
Her previous experience includes chief executive with tobacco company Reynolds America and president for PepsiCo's North American Nutrition, Beverages and Western Europe operations.
