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Former William Grant CEO becomes new Campari boss
The board of directors at Davide Campari-Milano has appointed former William Grant CEO Simon Hunt to be the group’s next chief executive.
Simon Hunt, former CEO of William Grant & Sons, has been appointed chief executive officer of Campari Group following a “thorough assessment of both internal and external candidates”, announced the board of directors at Davide Campari-Milano.
The Campari Group, which includes power brands Aperol, Campari, Courvoisier and Wild Turkey among its portfolio, said Hunt has a proven track record in managing premium spirit companies “and building and scaling premium iconic brands globally.”
Hunt will succeed interim co-CEOs Paolo Marchesini (COO) and Fabio Di Fede (chief legal and M&A officer) as head of the group, which is currently the sixth-largest player in the global premium spirits industry.
He is expected to take over the role on 15 January, following a general meeting of the board.
Highest regard
“During my more than three decades of experience within the spirits industry, I have always held Campari Group in the highest regard for its unique history, strong portfolio of iconic brands, company culture, and continuous outperformance and stellar growth story,” said Hunt.
“I am honoured and excited to take on this extraordinary opportunity and I look forward to working with Campari Group’s talented leadership team and organisation to continue to build on the company’s heritage and success built over the past decades, and to take Campari Group’s potential and growth ambition to its next level.”
Abrupt departure
Hunt follows the short-lived tenure of previous Campari CEO Matteo Fantacchiotti who stepped down in September following just five months in the role. The company put his abrupt departure down to “personal reasons”. However, earlier that month, prior to his resignation, Fantacchiotti had prompted a sudden further fall in Campari’s shares when he told an investor conference that US demand remained “soft”.
The company was forced to issue a press statement to “clarify” that his comments did not relate to only its own performance but to spirits producers in general.
Hunt spent 14 years at William Grant & Sons, starting off as president and managing director of North America before stepping into the role of chief commercial officer, and, finally, serving as CEO from 2016 to 2020. Before this he was at Diageo where he spearheaded the global marketing strategy for vodka brand Smirnoff.
He also spent time at Pernod Ricard as chief executive officer and president of Malibu-Kahlua International.
Campari Group chairman Luca Garavoglia said he is “confident that Simon’s background, personality, energy, leadership and drive will take Campari Group to new heights as we continue to execute our growth strategy and evolve into our new Houses of Brands operating model.”
Hunt will need to focus on re-energising Campari’s US sales. In October, db reported that the spirits group had experienced a steep profits drop of 18.2% during the third quarter of the year after slowing US sales. The Italian company, which is headquartered in Milan, forecast “a gradual return in the medium-term to a mid-to-high single digit organic net sales growth trajectory in a normalised macro environment”.
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