BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS: January 2008

Blood takes S&N top spot, New MD for Latour UK, Mills oversees Savanna ad, Coca-Cola CEO to step down

Blood takes S&N top spot
Jeremy Blood has been named the new managing director of Scottish & Newcastle UK.
Blood was previously managing director of the company’s pub operating arm Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises.

Blood will form part of chief executive John Dunsmore’s new management team.
The team will include the managing directors of the UK, French, Portuguese and Finnish businesses as well as the managing director of developing markets.
The team is completed by the finance, operations, HR, corporate affairs and marketing directors, as well as the company secretary.
Tim Seager, currently acting managing director in the UK, will take up the role of managing director of Brasseries Kronenbourg from Yves Couette following a review of the French business.
Alberto DaPonte, managing director of the business in Portugal, and Yrjö Närhinen, managing director in Finland, also both become members of the new management team.
S&N said John Nicolson continues as managing director for developing markets.
The group said Nuno Teles, currently marketing director for Portuguese operations, takes up the role of acting marketing director until a permanent appointment is made.

New MD for Latour UK
Dan Townsend is the new managing director of Maison Louis Latour’s UK business, Louis Latour Agencies. He replaces Alexander Nall.
Townsend has previously held senior positions at Scottish & Newcastle, Matthew Clark and Constellation Europe.
Commenting on the appointment, Louis-Fabrice Latour said: “This is a very important appointment for us and following an extensive search we are delighted to welcome Dan into the business. He joins us at an exciting time and I know that we will benefit from Dan’s vast experience and track record of success, in spearheading our business in the UK.”
Townsend, who left Constellation earlier this year said: “I have been incredibly impressed with all aspects of the Louis Latour business, and I am really excited about the opportunity to drive sales of both Louis Latour Burgundy and their other French wines, as well as developing the UK business of our agency partners around the world.”

Mills oversees Savanna ad
Anthony Mills has been appointed head of marketing at Savanna cider. His role is to oversee the South African brand’s pan-European expansion.
Mills, 42 years old and a native New Zealander, joins Savanna, part of the Distell portfolio of drinks, after three years as general manager for sales and marketing at New Zealand wine company Cable Bay where he was responsible for the company’s global infrastructure. Prior to Cable Bay he was European manager for Wingara Wines over a two year period; and previously for another two years with Menzendorff as marketing manager UK for Taylor’s Port. He has also worked at Kellogg’s, Heinz and Heineken.
He has begun his role at Savanna by taking charge of the brands first UK advertising campaign.

Coca-Cola CEO to step down
In the busy period building up to the calendar (and for most companies, financial) year end there were several notable changes at the top of drinks business firms.
The most prominent was probably the announcement by Coca-Cola of the departure of chairman/CEO Edward Isdell; he will step down from the post of CEO in July 2008 and from the chairmanship in April 2009.
Isdell joined the firm in 1966 and was steadily promoted to positions that include CEO of Coca-Cola HBC. He is currently a director of SunTrust Banks and has in the past been a director of BT and Scottish & Newcastle. He will be succeeded as CEO by Muhtar Kent, who will move from president/COO to president/CEO in July 2008. Kent originally joined Coca-Cola in 1978 but became chairman/CEO of Efes Breweries in 2003, stepping down from the company as chairman in 2005 to become a regional president/COO for Coca-Cola North Asia, Eurasia and Middle East Group and held progressively more senior positions before taking on the role of president and COO in December 2006.

Other changes include the departure of Norman Adami, the former head of Miller Brewing from SABMiller and latterly the regional president/CEO of SABMiller Americas.
He joined SAB in 1979 and held several posts, including that of managing director of beer South Africa. 
Sticking with brewing, Mark Hunter, the CEO of Coors Brewers in Molson Coors Brewing Company has been appointed executive officer to replace Frits Van Paasschen who left the company in August.
Hunter was previously chief commercial officer of Molson Canada; before that he was employed by Bass Brewers.

Other news:
Graham Holter has taken a part-time post at Wine Intelligence as associate director, publishing. His role is to expand the company’s web content and industry reports.
Stephen Robertson has been appointed to succeed Kevin Hawkins as director general of the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Robertson will take up his post at the BRC on 1 February 2008. 
Patrick Healy from Fetzer Vineyards died due to cancer in November, aged 59. He had been an employee of the company for more than 30 years and was one of the earliest advocates for Fetzer’s sustainability practices.
Dave Moynihan has been appointed to the newly created position of senior vice president and chief production and supply officer at Constellation Brands. Moynihan, 48, was formerly Constellation’s senior vice president of supply chain.
Francis Patton has joined Merseyside brewer and pub operator Cains Beers as a non-executive director. Patton was previously Punch Taverns customer service director and prior to that spent 12 years with Allied Domecq.
Florence Pramberger has joined Beam Global as senior vice president of human resources. She previously held the same position at Campbell Soup Company.
Clare Smyth is new head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s three-Michelin-starred flagship restaurant on London’s Royal Hospital Road. Smyth has replaced Simone Zanoni, who is in Versailles to oversee the opening of Ramsay’s first restaurant in France next year.