The next chapter for Jim McGreevy, the outgoing president and CEO of the Beer Institute (BI), will be at the Coca-Cola Company’s North America Political Action Committees (PACS), as VP of public policy, federal government relations and political engagement (PPGR).
McGreevy announced last week that he would be departing the BI in May after eight years of leading the trade group. His first day at Coca-Cola will be May 16.
In his new role, McGreevy will “lead the company’s strategic engagement on public policies,” including “environmental policy, health, nutrition and ingredients to social policy, human rights and beyond,” Joanna Price, chief of publics affairs, communications and sustainability for Coca-Cola’s North American unit, wrote in an internal memo Thursday.
Additionally, McGreevy and his team will be responsible for the development of Coca-Cola’s “FOR” policy work, which will “engage with government, trade associations and NGO stakeholders,” on topics including: environment; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); health and wellness; and international trade. He will also help “protect the Coca-Cola system’s reputation across federal, state and local government and NGO stakeholder groups,” Price wrote.
“A new challenge is always great,” McGreevy told Brewbound. “And it’s an industry I know well and can bring value to in a different kind of role at a company as opposed to trade association.
“I’m sad to leave the beer industry,” he continued. “There’s that old adage that your worst day in the beer business is better than your best day in any other business. I’m gonna go find out if that’s true.”
During his tenure at the BI, McGreevy successfully led an initiative to make federal excise tax relief for brewers and importers permanent via the 2020 Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act. The BI, under McGreevy’s leadership, also successfully lobbied to include brewers as essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and created the Brewers’ Voluntary Disclosure Initiative, providing “greater transparency to the consumer of the contents of beer.”
The BI will conduct a “comprehensive search” for McGreevy’s replacement, Gavvin Hattersley, the BI’s chairman and the president and CEO of Molson Coors, wrote in a member update last week.
“In the meantime, the work of the industry goes on and to Jim’s credit, the BI has a fantastic team working on behalf of the entire membership,” Hattersley said. “That work can and must continue as the challenges we all face will not hit pause. I have every confidence in the staff of the BI and I appreciate their ongoing commitment to the organization on behalf of all BI members and the beer industry.”