Beam Suntory Shuffles North American Leadership
Greg Hughes, currently President North America, and Jessica Spence, currently President Brands, will swap roles effective Jan. 1, Beam Suntory announced.
As President North America, Spence will be responsible for leading commercial operations in the region that includes the company’s largest and most profitable market, the U.S. Spence joined Beam Suntory in 2019 as President of Brands where she has established and led the company’s global brands organization. Prior to Beam Suntory, Spence served as Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer for the Carlsberg Group, overseeing the company’s global marketing, sales, insights, R&D and innovation functions.
Hughes will become Chief Growth and Brands Officer, leading the company’s global brands organization and spearheading growth initiatives including route to market excellence globally. Hughes joined Beam Suntory in 2015 and has driven strong results since becoming President of North America in 2018.
In other developments, the company also announced Yuri Grebenkin, who has led Beam Suntory’s EMEA business for the last six years, is appointed President International, one of the company’s three operating regions. He succeeds Pryce Greenow, who has made the personal decision to leave Beam Suntory at the end of January. Greenow led the region and its diverse set of markets to strong double-digit growth during the past two years.
David Hunter, SVP Global Supply Chain Officer, has decided to retire from Beam Suntory at the end of January after 15 years with the company, including the past seven years leading its global supply chain organization. Hunter rallied his organization around the imperatives of quality, safety and continuous improvement, and he and his team diligently navigated the challenges of the pandemic. Hunter’s successor will be announced at a future date.
The company also announced the following market alignment changes to its regional structure:
- Oceania will become part of the company’s newly renamed Asia Pacific region, which will continue to be led by Sho Semba, President of Asia Pacific and Global RTD.
- Mexico, previously part of the North America region, will become part of the International region so as to leverage the team’s expertise in building successful emerging markets.