Bacardi, Molson Coors and Starbucks are among the companies welcoming new faces to top jobs.
Bacardi, Molson Coors and Starbucks are among the companies welcoming new faces to top jobs.
Molson Coors has named its new president of US sales as Chief Customer Officer and beer industry veteran Brian Feiro, who will take on the role on December 31. Feiro replaces Kevin Doyle, an ‘industry legend’ who will retire after nearly 40 years with the company.
Feiro, a Duluth, Minn., native, started his career loading trucks for a Miller distributor in northern Minnesota. He joined Molson Coors in 2002 and began a methodical ascent through the company’s U.S. sales organization. He served in distributor management and sales operations roles, then as a director on the national accounts team, as a regional chain director and as a vice president of the company’s Central region before rising to chief customer officer in early 2021, where he has helped the Molson Coors off-premise chain team return to the No. 1 supplier position in the latest industry survey by Tamarron Consulting.
Feiro will lead Molson Coors’ largest sales team in what the company calls the ‘biggest and most important market at a crucial time in the company’s history and amid fundamental changes in the beverage industry’.
Kevin Doyle: A career of 'blockbuster achievements'
Kevin Doyle has held virtually every sales role with Miller Brewing Company, SAB Miller, MillerCoors and Molson Coors. He guided the launch of brands ranging from Miller Genuine Draft in 1986 to Simply Spiked Lemonade in June, and built the leading chain-selling team in the US, first for Miller and later for MillerCoors and Molson Coors.
“Doyle, 62, will retire leaving a storied legacy filled with a lifetime’s worth of blockbuster achievements during his 39-year tenure at the company. He established Molson Coors’ chain sales and on-premise sales organizations, pioneered its industry-leading category management and sales analytics programs and helped lead the integration of Miller and Coors upon the formation of the MillerCoors joint-venture in 2008,” notes the company.
“Hard-driving and ultra-competitive, the Miller High Life aficionado and consummate salesman maintained an outsize presence on the Molson Coors leadership team and among distributors, many of whom Doyle considers lifelong friends.”
Doyle, who cut his teeth in the business managing Fat Harry’s bar in New Orleans while in college and later won a merchandiser job in 1981 at Crescent Crown Distributing (at the time Miller Brewing-owned), “understands the business and the industry inside and out, has a photographic memory for numbers and a competitive spirit few can match,” Molson Coors CEO Hattersley said. Those traits led him to “a remarkable career that has earned him a lasting legacy in our industry.”
For all of his 'famous competitive fire', however, “Kevin has never forgotten where he came from, and he has always cared deeply about the people on his team. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Kevin over the past 20 years, it’s this: He’s a good man who has become a friend to countless people in our business and across our industry,” Hattersley said.
Doyle will remain with Molson Coors for the next five months to assist Feiro in the transition.
Feiro says his top priority is to strengthen Molson Coors’ relationship with its network: which includes driving engagement among its distributor partners as well as his sales team. He also wants to continue building the team’s culture, infuse more diverse talent into Molson Coors’ sales organization, help elevate the company’s performance in categories adjacent to beer and continue his work modernizing Molson Coors’ chain strategy.
Coca-Cola Beverages Florida has announced several leadership changes in its Florida territories.
The local Coca-Cola bottler operates a 47-county footprint across the state through a territory operating model. This operating model includes 18 territories who serve more than 21 million consumers from Jacksonville to the Keys.
Rodney Ford (pictured above) has been promoted to Territory Director, South Region. Ford previously held the position of Territory General Manager, Ft. Myers. In his new role, he will provide commercial leadership and support for the company’s south region which includes the Ft. Myers, Keys, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Sarasota, and St. Petersburg territories.
Ford has more than 30 years of experience in the Coca-Cola system, joining Coke Florida in 2015. He held several roles in the sales organization and was the Ft. Myers Distribution Center Manager before being promoted to become the Territory General Manager in 2018.
Jack Palmorn has been named Territory General Manager, Ft. Myers.
Palmorn has a broad career with the Coca-Cola system that began in front line operations. Over his seventeen-year career he continued to advance within the sales and distribution organization becoming the Territory General Manager for the Daytona territory in 2018. He expanded his role in 2020, adding the Brevard territory to his scope of responsibility.
April King, Territory General Manager, Ft. Pierce will expand her responsibilities to include the Brevard territory.
She joined the Coca-Cola system in 2009, and has held positions of increasing responsibility, becoming the Territory General Manager in 2018.
Laxman Narasimhan will become Starbucks’ next chief executive officer and a member of the Starbucks Board of Directors.
Narasimhan will join Starbucks as incoming CEO on October 1, 2022 after relocating from London to the Seattle area and will work closely with Howard Schultz, interim CEO, before assuming the CEO role and joining the Board on April 1, 2023.
Narasimhan brings nearly 30 years of experience leading and advising global consumer-facing brands. Most recently, he served as chief executive officer of Reckitt, a FTSE-12 listed multinational consumer health, hygiene and nutrition company, where he led the company through a major strategic transformation and a return to sustainable growth.
Previously, Narasimhan held various leadership roles at PepsiCo, including as global chief commercial officer, where he was responsible for the company’s long-term strategy and digital capabilities. He also served as ceo of the company’s Latin America, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa operations, and previously as the ceo of PepsiCo Latin America, and the cfo of PepsiCo Americas Foods. Prior to PepsiCo, Narasimhan was a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on its consumer, retail and technology practices in the U.S., Asia and India and led the firm’s thinking on the future of retail.
Narasimhan is also a trustee of the Brookings Institution, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, served as a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Build Back Better Council, and is a member of Verizon’s Board of Directors. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, University of Pune, India. He has an MA in German and International Studies from The Lauder Institute at The University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.
Howard Schultz will remain in the role of interim CEO during this transition period, following which he will continue as a member of the Starbucks Board of Directors. He will remain closely involved with the company’s Reinvention and act as an ongoing advisor to Narasimhan.
During the transition period, Narasimhan will spend time with Schultz and the management team, partners and customers: which will include visiting Starbucks store immersions, visiting manufacturing plants and coffee farms.
Leila Stansfield will take on the role of Global Travel Retail Managing Director at Bacardi, becoming the first female lead for the division as of January 2023.
Stansfield is an experienced global travel retail veteran, having previously held roles as GTR Finance Director and GTR Marketing Director. She is currently On-Trade Sales Director, Bacardi UK & Ireland.
Bacardi’s current Global Travel Retail Managing Director, Vinay Golikeri, will move out of global travel retail to take on the role of Managing Director, India, and Neighboring Countries. Golikeri is credited, in particular, with having ‘successfully navigated the challenges of the pandemic’ over his time in the role.
Suntory Beverage & Food Great Britain & Ireland (SBF GB&I), the UK’s third largest soft drinks manufacturer, has appointed Daniel Lander as Finance Director for the GB&I business.
Lander will oversee the commercial financial management of the company behind UK household names including Lucozade and Ribena.
Daniel joins SBF GB&I from Nando’s Grocery International, where he worked for almost a decade, holding senior roles including Chief Operating Officer. He brings with him extensive experience of strategic planning, customer service, digital transformation programmes and integrated business planning in the FMCG industry.
As Finance Director and member of the SBF GB&I Executive Committee, Daniel will help drive the company’s Growing for Good vision, working with his team to deliver growth strategies and business transformation with a focus on sustainability and ESG goals.
Daniel has begun his role with immediate effect and will be based at SBF GB&I’s Stockley Park office in Uxbridge.
Daniel replaces Conor Brew, who, after two and a half years in the Great Britain and Ireland team has taken on a new role at SBFE as Finance Director for EECM and Benelux.