After a decade of leading Diageo, CEO Sir Ivan Menezes will retire as CEO and exit the company’s board of directors, effective June 30, the beer and spirits giant behind Guinness and Johnnie Walker announced today.
Debra Crew, Diageo’s chief operating officer, will assume the CEO role and join Diageo’s board, beginning July 1.
“It has been an enormous honour leading Diageo over the past decade,” Menezes said in a press release. “I am extremely proud of what we have achieved during that time, and I would like to thank my 28,000 talented colleagues around the world for all of their hard work, creativity and passion. I would also like to thank the board for their encouragement, challenge and support over the years.
“I am delighted to be handing over the reins to Debra,” he continued. “In the time that we have worked together, I have been consistently impressed with her passion for growth and for building high performing teams. I am confident that under Debra’s leadership, and with our extraordinary portfolio of brands and culture, Diageo will go on to deliver our long-term performance ambition.”
Menezes has led Diageo as CEO since July 2013, a year after becoming an executive director with the company. He is credited with “overseeing an outstanding period of change, growth and high performance,” according to the press release.
Crew became COO in October 2022. She was formerly president of Diageo North America and Global Supply, which the company credited her leadership with growing its “largest market to 14% organic net sales growth in fiscal 2022, following on from 20% organic net sales growth in the prior year.”
“I am focused on continuing Diageo’s extraordinary track record of building world-leading brands and enhancing our reputation as one of the most responsible businesses in what I believe to be the most exciting consumer products category,” Crew said in the release. “It is an incredible privilege to be leading Diageo through the next phase of its development.”
Crew will receive an annual salary of $1.75 million, plus a pension contribution of 14% of her base salary, per the company release. She first served on Diageo’s board as a non-executive director in April 2019 but stepped down after becoming president of Diageo North America in July 2022. With her appointment, women will account for more than half of Diageo’s executive committee, starting July 1.
Prior to joining Diageo, Crew served as president and CEO of Reynolds American, Inc. She previously worked in several leadership roles at PepsiCo for five years and her resume includes stints at Kraft Foods, Nestlé S.A. and Mars, Inc.
Under Menezes’ leadership, the Diageo portfolio grew to more than 200 brands sold across 180 markets and is “the number one company by net sales value in Scotch whisky, vodka, gin, rum, Canadian whisky, liqueurs, and also tequila,” per market research firm IWSR. Meanwhile, Guinness became the No. 1 selling beer in Great Britain’s on-trade for the first time in December 2022, according to on-premise marketing research firm CGA.
Prior to taking the helm, Menezes held numerous leadership roles at Diageo since joining the company via the merger of Guinness plc and Grand Metropolitan plc in 1997. Past roles include chief operating officer; president of Diageo North America; chairman of Diageo Asia Pacific; and chairman of Diageo Latin America and Caribbean.
The CEO succession is the latest leadership change at Diageo. In August, Moët Hennessy veteran Rodney Williams was appointed president of Diageo Beer Company and Canada. Williams succeeded Nuno Teles, who occupied the role before moving to the United Kingdom to serve as Diageo’s managing director for Great Britain, a promotion that was announced in April 2022. In July, Claudia Schubert transitioned from the role of president, U.S. spirits and Canada, to president, North America, taking over when Crew was promoted to COO.
In the U.S., Diageo is the seventh largest beer category vendor, with a portfolio that includes Guinness, the Smirnoff Ice flavored malt beverage brand family and Lone River Ranch Water. In the first two months of 2023, the company’s off-premise sales increased +5.4%, to $93.6 million, at multi-outlet grocery and convenience stores tracked by market research firm Circana. Volume, measured in case sales, was roughly flat with a decline of -0.1% compared to the same period in 2022. Diageo accounts for 1.57% of off-premise beer category dollars.