Diageo has lined up the former chief people officer at biopharmaceutical company Sanofi as the next head of its group HR operations.
Natalie Bickford (below) stepped down at Sanofi at the end of last month after six years in post at the Paris-headquartered business. The executive, who was previously group HR director for Merlin Entertainments from 2016 to 2020, will replace Louise Prashad, whose departure after 25 years with Diageo – the last four of which were as chief HR officer – was reported in mid-May.
The news marks the most senior appointment at Diageo since Dave Lewis became CEO in January. At the end of March, Global Drinks Intel revealed exclusively that the brand owner’s North America CEO, Sally Grimes, had left the group with immediate effect, to be replaced by John O’Keefe, the current CEO for Asia Pacific, Global Travel & India.
Meanwhile, at the same time that Prashad’s move was reported on, the regional president for Africa, Hina Nagarajan, was also reported to have lined up her departure.
On both occasions, Diageo referenced in its responses that a “strategy update” will be presented when the company reports its financial full-year results (to the end of June), scheduled for Thursday, 6 August.
