A-B Announces Andy Goeler Retirement, Exec Appointments
Long-time Anheuser-Busch InBev marketing executive Andy Goeler will retire at the end of the year after a 43-year career with the world’s largest beer maker.
Goeler played significant roles throughout his tenure helping lead and build A-B InBev’s craft beer business division before taking the reins as VP of Bud Light — at the time, the company’s largest brand — in February 2017.
The impending retirement of Goeler, VP of marketing for Bud Light, was announced Wednesday during A-B InBev’s distributor meeting.
The company also shared its succession plan, with Daniel Blake, the current VP of marketing for Budweiser and value brands, assuming the role of marketing group VP for mainstream brands, beginning June 1. The Bud Light family of brands will be folded under Blake’s purview.
Additionally, A-B announced several other appointments, including:
- Alissa Heinerscheid, senior director of DTC E-Commerce, to the role of marketing VP, head of Bud Light Blue;
- Steve Wolf, senior director of commercial — Colorado, to the role of marketing VP head of Bud Light Extensions.
Both Heinerscheid and Wolf will report to Blake.
As for Goeler, his four-decade tenure ends with several highlights, including serving as CEO and president of Goose Island, where he helped take the Chicago craft brand national; leading the expansion of A-B’s craft brands, including Elysian, 10 Barrel and more; and multiple commercial team roles.
Pabst Brewing Appoints New Chief Sales Officer, Chief HR Officer
Pabst Brewing Company has appointed former A-B InBev exec and Amazon operations manager Keith Diggs as the San Antonio-headquartered bev-alc company’s chief sales officer, the company announced Wednesday. Pabst also named Anna Basista as Chief Human Resources Officer, effective May 2.
Diggs’ first day in the new role was May 3. He replaces Brian Smith, who led sales for Pabst for five years before leaving to take the chief sales role with canned vodka soda maker Canteen.
“Keith brings an unparalleled wealth of industry knowledge, deep relationships with distributors and expertise in commercial leadership and transformation that will be invaluable to our continued evolution as a company,” said Pabst CEO Paul Chibe in the release.
“It is an honor to join such an iconic company at this dynamic and exciting time for the beer industry at large,” Diggs added. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to support Pabst’s growth and partner with our valued distributors as we expand our reach.”
Diggs brings more than 25 years of experience in commercial leadership roles in the beer and CPG industries, including two decades at A-B, last serving as VP of route-to-market from January 2016 to October 2017. In that role, he oversaw commercial priorities for ABI regions and field sales reps. In his previous role as southwest region regional VP, he was responsible for $1.5 billion and more than 212 million case sales.
More recently, Diggs served as an operations manager for Amazon’s fulfillment center in Dallas.
Meanwhile, Basista brings decades of experience in HR leadership roles and as a communications strategist to Pabst. Basista led HR for Superior Essex Inc., a global cable and wire tech firm, as senior VP of global human resources.
“I look forward to supporting a talented team and building on the strong, values-first culture that is so deeply embedded in Pabst and its legacy,” she said in the release.
“We have tremendous confidence in her ability to differentiate our company and provide valuable strategic contributions to build on our high-performing team and culture,” Chibe added.
FIFCO USA Promotes Piotr Jurjewicz to CEO
Costa Rica-headquartered FIFCO has elevated CMO Piotr Jurjewicz to the role of CEO of FIFCO USA.
Jurjewicz assumes the role from Rich Andrews, who has served as CEO of FIFCO’s U.S. business unit since December 2019. Andrews, a former wine and spirits executive, has accepted a role that will allow him to live closer to his family.
The promotion comes two after Jurjewicz assumed the CMO role in March 2020 after previously leading consumer marketing as VP of FIFCO’s beer portfolio. He joined FIFCO in March 2019.
FIFCO CEO Ramón Mendiola called Jurjewicz “one of the company’s strongest and most successful leaders” and “a well-respected leader who has made substantial contributions to our success.”
Jurjewicz previously spent two decades at SABMiller in marketing and leadership roles across Europe and Latin America.
“I’m excited to lead FIFCO USA’s strategy that will ultimately benefit our most important stakeholders — our employees, wholesaler partners, customers and communities,” Jurjewicz said in the release. “Together, we will continue to create value, momentum and pride in our organization.”
Mendiola credited Andrews’ for creating “a new vision and strategy were created focused on fully leveraging FICO USA’s top brands in the portfolio, improving revenue management, creating a simplified and more effective organizational structure, and delivering a value-based approach that has resulted in consecutive years of record results.”
FIFCO’s brands include LaBatt, Genesee, Genesee Specialty, Seagram’s Escapes, Magic Hat, Pyramid, and Imperial.
Abby Cheng Promoted to CEO of Orpheus
After nine months of leading sales for Orpheus Brewing, Abby Cheng has been promoted to CEO, the Atlanta-based craft brewery announced.
Cheng brings more than a decade of industry experience in sales, including three years at New Realm Brewing, where she was the Georgia brewery’s first field sales rep and later a senior market development manager, and two years at Founders Brewing as a sales rep in Georgia. She also has experience as a wine buyer and manager at Hop City Craft Beer and Wine, a sales rep at Prime Wine and Spirits and a sales associate at Total Wine and More.
In the announcement of Cheng’s promotion, Orpheus brewmaster Jason Pellett, who stepped down as CEO in March, said: “I had to step into the CEO role but I didn’t want it forever. I always wanted someone who really cares about beer and doesn’t see it as just a commodity. Abby made sense from Day One. I’m happy to call her the boss.”
Charles Vallhonrat Retires as Texas Craft Brewers Guild Exec Director, Caroline Wallace Takes Over
After nearly a decade as executive director of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, Charles Vallhonrat retired on April 30, the trade group announced.
In his nearly 10 years at the helm, Vallhonrat helped Texas brewers achieve beer-to-go sales privileges and establish CraftPAC, a political action committee to advocate for the state’s craft brewers.
Caroline Wallace, who has served as deputy director of the guild for more than six years, has assumed the role of executive director.