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Accolade Wines names new managing director for Europe
Accolade Wines has named its new new managing director for Europe, who will take over from Caroline Thompson-Hill in February
Derek Nicol, who has been Accolade’s chief supply chain officer since 2020, will take over the role from 1 February. He brings extensive global experience to the new position, having served in commercial, supply chain and finance functions across the wine and spirits sectors internationally, including two stints at Treasury Wine Estates where he was as regional operating officer for EMEA. Previous roles at TWE included supply chain director, EMEA and Asia, commercial finance director EMEA, head of wine supply and demand and head of integrated business planning. After over a decade at TWE, he spent a year at William Grant and Sons, leading its global supply and demand, before returning to TWE for a further six years.
Caroline Thompson-Hill, who has lead the Accolade team for four years, has resigned in order “pursue an opportunity in the UK retail sector”, the company said.
Following Nicol’s promotion, Joe Russo will step up to the role of chief supply chain officer. He is currently general manager of supply chain and operations for Australia and New Zealand, having joined Wines for four years ago. Prior to that, he held senior supply chain roles at Diageo, Mondelez and Lion.
Ms Thompson-Hill leaves Accolade after four years in the role, having led the European business through a period of transformational change. Throughout her tenure, Accolade Wines has delivered consistent above-market growth, with Hardys retaining its position as UK’s number one wine brand.
Accolade Wines chief executive officer Robert Foye said while he was sorry to see Thompson-Hill leave, the appointments showed “the depth of talent we have within Accolade, with both Derek and Joe bringing valuable cross-functional skill-sets in the industry to their new roles”.
“In recent years, Accolade has cemented its leadership of the UK market and is making significant progress in the rest of Europe. We have also built our status as one of the industry’s leading suppliers, working closely and collaboratively with customers to innovate and lead the category. We will continue this trajectory under the leadership of Derek and the existing leadership team,” he said.
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