The president of Heineken’s ‘Europe’ division, Søren Hagh, has lined up his departure after ten years to take the top job at William Grant & Sons.
Hagh, who joined Heineken in 2013 and became Europe lead in June 2020, will take over from current CEO – and member of William Grant’s founding family – Glenn Gordon at the start of January. Gordon will revert to a non-executive director role, having stepped up to replace Simon Hunt as CEO following his departure in late 2020.
Prior to starting as director of global marketing for Heineken – he moved up to head the Italy division for four years in 2016 – Hagh also worked for Diageo, as global group marketing director, albeit for only 18 months back in 2008 and 2009. In a brief statement, which did not reference Hagh’s time with Diageo, a William Grant spokesperson credited Hagh with having “a tremendous wealth of relevant experience to the business from his many years working in the drinks sector”.
Over at Heineken, Glenn Caton will return to the beverage alcohol industry to take on the Europe president position, also from 1 January.
Before spending the last ten years at Mondelēz International, where he is the current senior VP of global commercial, Caton was E&J Gallo Winery’s senior marketing director in Europe from 2003 to 2006. Caton was also UK MD of Direct Wines for almost three years between his tenures with Mondelēz and Gallo.
“I would like to express my gratitude to Soren for his significant contributions to Heinkene over the last ten years,” said CEO Dolf van den Brink. “Glenn brings great experience of operating across different sectors, regions and cultures.
“He will be a great addition to Heineken and our executive team, and I very much look forward to working with him.”
In September, William Grant added another gin brand to its portfolio, acquiring UK-based Silent Pool Distillers and its namesake gin to sit alongside Hendrick’s.
