Here are some of the companies welcoming new people to top jobs.
Here are some of the companies welcoming new faces to top jobs.
Fine wine retailer Benchmark Wine Group has named Master Sommelier Jay James as its next president.
James brings nearly four decades of experience in all tiers of the fine and rare wine industry. As President, he will apply his knowledge to overseeing all of Benchmark’s strategic development initiatives and daily operations.
After starting his career at the Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta and working at several other top restaurants in the city, James moved to distribution, handling key account sales for Atlanta Wholesale Wine. After earning the Master Sommelier Diploma in 1997, to date one of only 273 people worldwide to have done so, James was selected as the opening Director of Wine for The Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. He then joined the country’s largest wine distributor Southern Wine and Spirits (now Southern Glazer's) in Nevada, where he became Vice President of their fine wine division.
James has headed up sales and operations at three of the top collectable wine producers in Napa: Chappellet, Larkmead and Joseph Phelps Vineyards, and most recently led innovative wine and spirits distributor Springboard Wine Company. He is a co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the educational charity SommFoundation. James has been featured as a wine business expert within multiple national publications. He regularly speaks at top wine and food events internationally, and he teaches and examines for the Court of Master Sommeliers.
After 18 years with the company (and 16 as CEO), Bob Kunze-Concewitz, CEO of Campari Group, has decided to retire from his role to pursue his personal passions: effective as of April 11, 2024.
“During his time [as CEO], Bob’s contribution to Campari is unparalleled, growing the company size by c.3 times in net sales and profitability, thanks to a combination of organic and external growth, overseeing 27 acquisitions since 2007, for an overall investment of €3bn,” says Campari Group.
“Over the years, Bob has successfully built a very strong, cohesive and highly committed leadership team, composed of high calibre top managers from leading FMCG companies, with deep consumer industry expertise, strategic acumen and strong operational capabilities. Together, they established a highly successful brand building strategy with strong focus on global high margin priority brands and core regional ones. Thanks to Bob’s long-term vision, they successfully developed core aperitifs brands such as Aperol, which increased net sales 12 times since 2007, becoming the largest Group’s brand; among the other initiatives, the Campari brand has been relaunched and it’s recognised today among the most appreciated and consumed spirits in the world, with its proprietary Negroni cocktail. In the highly attractive premium tequila category, Espolòn has become one of the leading and fastest growing premium tequila brands in the US.
“Moreover, under Bob’s leadership, the Group’s international footprint expanded from 6 to 25 in-market direct companies in the last 16 years, accounting for approx. 93% sales, and from 9 to 23 production facilities across the world.
“Under Bob’s leadership the company designed and successfully implemented a scalable model of systems and processes, thanks to which it is today poised to successfully pursue and integrate new M&A opportunities. Since May 2007, the market capitalisation increased by over 6 times to €13.8 billion today, delivering an outstanding value for shareholders, with a TSR (Total Shareholder Return) of 13% annualized.”
After retiring, Bob is expected to become non-executive director of the company.
Matteo Fantacchiotti, Managing Director Asia Pacific, becomes the new CEO nominee. In order to ensure an orderly and smooth handover, Matteo has been appointed Deputy CEO effective immediately.
“Under Fantacchiotti leadership in Asia Pacific, this strategic region has successfully developed thanks to a combination of the enhancement of the Group’s route-to-market in Asia, with the insourcing of direct distribution capabilities in key markets such as South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and India, the creation of a strong regional hub in Singapore, as well as a deep focus on the high end premium and ultra-premium brand portfolio, targeting high net worth individuals across the region,” says Campari Group.
After graduating in Business and Economics, Matteo started his career in the cosmetic industry. He then spent more than 20 years in the beverage industry in Nestlé Waters, Diageo, where he held key roles in the development of the Global Luxury Division, and Carlsberg Group in various managerial positions with growing duties ranging from managing in-market operations, leading global sales and marketing operations, opening new business units and launching new businesses both in emerging and developed markets in all four global regions.
Guala Closures - a producer of closures for spirits, wines, water and beverages – has announced that Gabriele Del Torchio, currently Chairman and CEO, will remain as Chairman with effect in September 2023 and Mauro Caneschi will join as Chief Executive Officer.
Gabriele Del Torchio was appointed Chairman and CEO of Guala Closures in April 2021 when the Group was acquired by an investment company of Investindustrial VII L.P., a European investment group.
Mauro Caneschi joins from Campari Group where he first led the Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa Business Unit (including Global Travel Retail) before creating and managing the Americas operation, Campari Group’s largest division. He had previously held senior international positions at Heineken, Scottish & Newcastle and Danone Group. He has significant expertise in Guala Closure’s end-markets and an ability to integrate and accelerate complex and international businesses.
The changes in the offices of the Chairman and CEO follow other senior management appointments - including a new CFO, the managing director of Labrenta and the business development manager spirits - announced in July 2023.
IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, a data and intelligence company for the $1.5 trillion global alcoholic beverage market, is appointing Julie Harris as its new CEO.
The transition comes following Mark Meek’s decision to step back from the CEO role and to take up a non-executive director position within the company.
Julie Harris joins from Comparison Technologies, a leading tech-enabled comparison and customer acquisition platform in the home digital services market, where she has been CEO since 2019.
Prior to this, Julie has held several CEO roles across a number of sectors, including WGSN, the global leader in trend forecasting for the fashion and retail industry.
“Under Mark Meek’s leadership, IWSR has delivered annual revenue growth of 20% and has significantly expanded the coverage and functionality of its core database,” says the company. “We have also developed a range of new products, including annual strategic consumer sentiment studies on topical issues such as ecommerce, no-and-low alcohol drinks and the impact of Covid-19. In conjunction with its strong organic growth, IWSR has also completed the acquisition of Wine Intelligence France, broadening its coverage of the wine sector.”
Ball Corporation has announced that Scott C. Morrison, 61, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will retire from the role after more than two decades with the company.
Howard Yu, 51, has been named to succeed Morrison as executive vice president and CFO, starting Sept. 25. Morrison will remain with the company as a senior advisor to ensure a smooth transition and in support of the successful completion of the proposed sale of Ball’s aerospace business.
Morrison joined Ball in 2000 as treasurer after 16 years in the banking industry. He became vice president and treasurer in 2002 and assumed increasing roles of responsibility including SVP and CFO in 2009, dual roles including interim COO, global beverage packaging, in 2014, and ultimately was promoted to EVP and CFO in 2020.
Yu most recently served as SVP and CFO for Envista, a publicly traded global company and spin-off of Danaher. Throughout his 22-year Danaher and Envista career, Yu served as CFO for multiple global divisions in Asia, Europe, and Latin America where he led successful M&A and systems transformations through varied global economic environments to drive shareholder value creation. Prior to joining Danaher, he worked in finance at Hewlett-Packard and as Senior Auditor at Deloitte & Touche.
