The company made the announcement yesterday, two months after Hanson confirmed his intention to stand down after almost five years in the role. Glaetzer moves up from the senior VP position for Constellation’s wine & spirits’ global operations & international sales.
Glaetzer’s career in beverage alcohol started with almost ten years at Treasury Wine Estates, where he rose from group winemaker for ‘commercial’ wines to become New Zealand director. He then transitioned to Constellation in mid-2014, when he assumed the post of New Zealand president, before moving up to his most recent role three years ago.
“Now that our strategic wine and spirits brand portfolio transformation is largely complete, and as we turn our focus more squarely towards strong commercial and operational execution for this business, Sam is uniquely equipped to lead our wine & spirits division at this pivotal time as we look to deliver growth and improved profitability,” said group CEO Bill Newlands.
While the company’s sales performance is dominated by beer in the US, where it owns the Corona and Modelo brands, Constellation’s wine and spirits unit features the likes of The Prisoner and Meiomi in the former, alongside Casa Noble tequila and High West American whiskey in the latter.
At the start of this year, in results for the nine months to the end of November, Constellation flagged a 7% year-on-year sales decline from the combined division.
