SCOTCH whisky giant Diageo has revealed its next chief executive as the company announced the retirement of Sir Ivan Menezes.
The Johnnie Walker distiller, which also owns brands such as Guinness and Gordon’s Gin, said Debra Crew, currently chief operating officer, will succeed Sir Ivan on July 1.
Sir Ivan, who was knighted in the New Year Honours, has led the company for 10 years, having originally joined through the merger of Guinness plc and Grand Metropolitan plc in 1997. He went on to hold a number of senior positions, including chief operating officer, president of Diageo North America, chairman of Diageo Asia Pacific, and chairman of Diageo Latin America and Caribbean. He has been chief executive since July 2013.
READ MORE: Scott Wright: Whisky fury easy to understand after 'historic blow'
Ms Crew originally joined the Diageo board as a non-executive director in April 2019, before stepping down from the board when appointed president of Diageo North America in July 2020. Before being appointed chief operating officer in October, she was president of Diageo North America and Global Supply.
Ms Crew is the former president and chief executive of Reynolds American. Before her time with Reynolds she spent five years at Pepsico, prior to which she held positions with Kraft Foods, Nestle SA and Mars Inc.
Her appointment as chief executive of Diageo means women will make up more than 50 per cent of the drinks giant’s executive committee from July 1.
Sir Ivan said: “It has been an enormous honour leading Diageo over the past decade. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved during that time, and I would like to thank my 28,000 talented colleagues around the world for all of their hard work, creativity and passion. I would also like to thank the board for their encouragement, challenge and support over the years.
READ MORE: Scots tourism chief declares tax rise will be ‘too heavy a burden’
“I am delighted to be handing over the reins to Debra. In the time that we have worked together, I have been consistently impressed with her passion for growth and for building high performing teams. I am confident that under Debra’s leadership, and with our extraordinary portfolio of brands and culture, Diageo will go on to deliver our long-term performance ambition.”
Ms Crew said: “I am delighted to be appointed chief executive officer of Diageo. Ivan leaves Diageo in a very strong position for future growth and I look forward to working with our teams around the world to capture the opportunities ahead.
“I am focused on continuing Diageo’s extraordinary track record of building world-leading brands and enhancing our reputation as one of the most responsible businesses in what I believe to be the most exciting consumer products category. It is an incredible privilege to be leading Diageo through the next phase of its development.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel