Anheuser-Busch continues to restructure its commercial leadership team, announcing Wednesday the appointment of a new president of its AB ONE division of wholly owned distributors
Simon Wuestenberg, who was appointed as new U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth’s successor as chief sales officer in September as part of an executive reshuffle, announced four new leadership appointments in a note to A-B’s wholesaler partners.
Among the appointments, Anson Frericks was named Wuestenberg’s successor as president of AB ONE. Frericks has worked for A-B for more than a decade, last serving as regional vice president of the southeast. In his new role, Frericks will be tasked with accelerating AB ONE as “a key growth engine” for A-B.
Succeeding Frericks as region VP for the Southeast will be Jonathan Wiese, who currently serves as A-B’s VP of revenue management and sales intelligence. Wiese has worked for A-B for more than a decade in various sales and marketing roles in the U.S.
A-B also announced the promotion of Tim Gossett, current VP — Walmart, as VP of retail channels in place of Ari Kertesz, who will be leaving A-B after five years. Gossett will be charged with “overseeing sales and channel strategies across all classes of trade and direct account team management of A-B’s national retail sales organization,” Wuestenberg wrote.
Finally, Michael Curtis will take over as VP — Walmart, “overseeing all sales, e-commerce and shopper marketing initiatives for Anheuser-Busch at Walmart and Sam’s Club.” Curtis currently serves as senior retail sales director — large format for the Southeast region.
“We are confident that Anson, Jonathan, Tim and Michael are the right leaders as we look to accelerate our momentum in the U.S. and position both our company and our independent wholesalers to lead future growth together,” Wuestenberg wrote.
In September, A-B appointed Wuestenberg as Whitworth’s successor as U.S. chief sales officer, promoted Kyle Norrington to the new role of U.S. chief commercial officer, and announced U.S. chief strategy officer Benoit Garbe would supplant Marcel Marcondes as U.S. chief marketing officer, as the latter was transiting to a new role within the world’s largest beer manufacturer.
Those moves followed Whitworth’s promotion as North American Zone and U.S. CEO in July. Whitworth took the reins July 1 from Michel Doukeris, who supplanted Carlos Brito as CEO of A-B InBev global.