Pronghorn, the Diageo-backed spirits accelerator for black-owned businesses, has named Ron Cole as its president.
Cole joins Pronghorn having previously held leadership roles at Nestlé Purina, Kerry Foods and Reckitt. He will be based out of the company’s Atlanta headquarters in the US.
“Pronghorn is in growth mode,” said co-founder Dia Simms. “Ron is coming onboard at the perfect time to accelerate that growth and ensure our impact is long lasting. Equity is driven by economics. Under Ron’s leadership, Pronghorn will continue to drive the spirit of principled capitalism forward.”
Cole added: “Joining Pronghorn is especially exciting for me because it provides the opportunity to invest and close the knowledge, access to equity and ownership gap within an underrepresented community in the spirits industry.”
Last year, Pronghorn, which came into being in 2020, invested in 28 spirits companies, bringing the total up to 57 black-owned brands. In August, the company made a strategic investment in US-based event management platform Eventnoire to further increase diversity within the alcohol industry and promote black-owned spirits brands.
Diageo’s North America division became what it called an “anchor investor” in the diversity driver in May 2021.
