Rob Sands will step down as CEO of Constellation Brands on March 1, 2019, the New York-based alcohol beverage company announced today. Assuming the role from Sands will be Bill Newlands, who joined Constellation as chief growth officer in 2015 and took over as president from Sands in February.
In the latest edition of People Moves: Anchor appoints a new VP of sales; Constellation Brands promotes from within; Fair State Brewing nabs an ex-Surly brewer; MillerCoors selects new VP of the Coors brand family; and the NBWA hires a new VP of communications.
Citing a “challenging” craft beer market, California’s Lagunitas Brewing said Tuesday that it would slash 12 percent of its workforce in a move that will impact at least 100 employees. The announcement comes about 17 months after Heineken International completed its purchase of the Petaluma-headquartered craft brewery.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: The Nevada Attorney General investigates MillerCoors; Stone seeks an injunction in its Keystone case; Almanac’s co-founder departs the company; and more news from the week.
On the same day that it announced a $4 billion investment into Canada’s Canopy Growth Corporation, Constellation Brands also laid off dozens of employees tasked with selling the company’s craft and specialty beers throughout the U.S. Constellation — whose craft portfolio includes Ballast Point in California, Funky Buddha in Florida and Four Corners Brewery in Texas as well as Mexican import brands Corona, Modelo and Pacifico — terminated around 60 of its 100 or so craft and specialty reps, a source familiar with the situation told Brewbound.
Anheuser-Busch announced several personnel moves on Tuesday, including changes to its U.S. marketing and North American sales teams. In separate notes to the company’s wholesalers, chief marketing officer Marcel Marcondes and chief sales officer Brendan Whitworth discussed the changes, which are part of North American CEO Michel Doukeris’ commercial reorganization plan.
In the latest round of People Moves: Modern Times scales back its taproom staff; North Carolina’s guild director departs; and more beer company changes.
Another longtime Ninkasi Brewing executive has left the building. In an email to Brewbound, Ninkasi co-founder and CEO Nikos Ridge confirmed that CFO Nigel Francisco left the Eugene, Oregon-based craft brewery in June, after about a decade, in order to pursue a similar role with King Estate Winery, which is also located in Eugene. In an unrelated move, the craft brewery also laid off three employees in the marketing and communications departments, Ridge confirmed.
As Colorado-headquartered Avery Brewing prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary next month, internally the company has restructured its sales team and added several new departments. Speaking to Brewbound, Avery national sales and marketing director Brian “BK” Krueger said “less than 10 percent” of the company’s sales and marketing workforce was impacted, and that net job loss totaled two field sales positions.
Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) this week announced a pair of key leadership changes, including the departure of chief financial officer Joseph Vanderstelt and the appointment of João Paulo Falcão Vieira, vice president of Anheuser-Busch’s (A-B) North American Zone, to its board of directors.
Heineken USA today announced that Maggie Timoney, who currently serves as the CEO and managing director of Heineken Ireland, will take over as CEO of the international beer maker’s U.S. division starting September 1. With the appointment, Timoney, a U.S. citizen who got her start in the beer business in 1993 as a sales supervisor for New York’s Sound Distributing Corporation, will become the first female CEO at a major U.S. beer company.
Following months of turmoil, Green Flash Brewing Company has identified its next chief executive. The San Diego-based craft brewery, which was sold to a new investor group last month, today named former Anheuser-Busch executive Michael Taylor as its new CEO.
In this edition of People Moves: Avery Brewing’s COO resigns, and the Boulder, Colorado-based craft brewery lays off six workers; Wormtown Brewery names a new general sales manager; Heineken USA forms an new sales operations team; and more industry personnel moves.
After about six months as CEO, David Pillsbury is leaving Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective — Oskar Blues’ and Fireman Capital Partners’ consortium of beer companies formed following investments in Cigar City Brewing, Perrin Brewing and Utah Brewers Cooperative — according to a press release.
