New Belgium today announced it has hired longtime Diageo executive Ruairi Twomey as its new vice president of marketing.
Twomey, who most recently served as the VP of marketing for Diageo Guinness USA and brings more than 15 years of beer and spirits experience to the Colorado-headquartered brewery, will join the New Belgium executive leadership team on March 14.
New Belgium created the new position after former branding director Josh Holmstrom departed the company at the end of last year, spokesman Bryan Simpson told Brewbound.
“Everything is changing very rapidly within a competitive craft landscape,” he said. “It is a U.S. phenomenon, but there is also a lot of global potential and it is great to have a worldly perspective in there to work on those opportunities.”
In addition to leading the company’s marketing initiatives and helping to develop company-wide campaigns, Twomey will also oversee its field marketing, Clips of Faith and Tour de Fat teams, Simpson added.
“Ruairi’s international experience, creativity and good humor will be a great fit here,” New Belgium CEO Christine Perich said in a statement.
Twomey’s appointment comes about one month after New Belgium parted ways with national sales director Joe Menetre, who had been with the company for 18 years. Following Menetre’s departure, Michael Corrigan, who had been serving as New Belgium’s national field sales director, assumed the role of national director of sales and began leading the company’s on- and off-premise chain sales.
The new hire also follows an August announcement that brewery founder Kim Jordan would transition away from day-to-day responsibilities as CEO into a new role as executive chair of the brewery’s Board of Directors. In October, New Belgium promoted then-COO Perich to CEO.
“It’s a real privilege to work with such an innovative and ambitious marketing team,” Twomey said. “Their energy, spirit and imagination has helped drive the New Belgium portfolio to the forefront of craft beer in the USA. It’s a really exciting time to be joining the company.”