Seagram Names Management Team for Global Spirits and Wine Business
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc. has announced the executive management team that will drive the vision and strategy to take its global spirits and wine business into the next millennium.
On a phased basis over the first six months of 1999, The Seagram Spirits and Wine Group is moving from a regional and brand group structure to a single, senior management team centrally located in New York with shared responsibility for volume and profit realization. This team will be supported by global functions headquartered in New York. This will include a global marketing team that will have offices in New York and London. Concurrent with the formation of the single, central senior management team, Seagram Latin America is elevated to the same status as Asia Pacific, Europe & Africa and North America and will now report directly into The Seagram Spirits and Wine Group. All four geographies will be led by operational heads, based in New York and reporting to Steven J. Kalagher, president and CEO, The Seagram Spirits and Wine Group.
The global functions for The Seagram Spirits and Wine Group encompass finance, strategic development, manufacturing, organization capability, marketing and communications. This functional center will work across all geographies, sharing knowledge, expertise and best practice; staff will be located as appropriate to business requirements. Leadership of the six global functions will all be based in New York reporting to Kalagher.
The Seagram Spirits and Wine Group Executive Management Team will be as follows: Fernando Kfouri, will continue as president, North America, and Mikael Grahne, will continue as president, Latin America. Effective February 1, Anthony Froggatt joins Seagram as president, Europe & Africa replacing Martin Frost, who has decided for family reasons to not relocate to New York but will continue with Seagram until June 30 to ensure a smooth changeover to Froggatt, who was formerly executive director and president, Europe, IDV Ltd. Effective July 1, Winston Mah is appointed president and COO, Asia Pacific. Ramesh Vangal, currently president of Seagram Asia Pacific, will continue as chairman, Asia Pacific, based in Singapore, through the end of June 2000, at which time he will move on to focus on several entrepreneurial opportunities that he has identified in the Asia region.
Other appointees to the Seagram Spirits and Wine Group Executive Management Team will be: Donard Gaynor, CFO; Tony Rodriguez, chief officer strategic development; Jerome Hyafil, chief manufacturing officer; Rod Taylor, chief officer organization capability; Vicki Nobles, chief communications officer. An announcement will be made in due course concerning the appointment of a chief marketing officer who will head the global marketing organization.
Kneale Ashwell is appointed executive vice president to the CEO, The Seagram Spirits and Wine Group, with specific focus upon global customer and brand strategic capability. Ashwell continues in his capacity as chairman, Seagram Distillers PLC and, as the senior Spirits And Wine Group executive based in London, will represent Seagram's interests with all relevant industry bodies and trade associations, including the Scotch Whisky Association, and play a primary role in Seagram's UK-based beverage alcohol legal entities. He will also ensure a smooth organizational transition for Seagram's Scotch whisky business.
"This is the next important step towards a lean, de-layered and boundaryless organization that will provide the high degree of consumer focus and organizational flexibility required by a successful company in today's global marketplace," said Kalagher. "Importantly, we believe it will better support our sales, marketing and distribution operations around the world, for whom it is business as usual. Across our entire spirits and wine organization, we intend to think and act as One Team Seagram."
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. is a U.S. subsidiary of The Seagram Company Ltd., which is headquartered in Montreal.