John Burke is set to call time on his near-30-year career at Bacardi, with Ned Duggan poised to replace him as the head of the group’s marketing operations.
The switch, lined up for the end of this year, is a result of Burke’s decision to retire after 28 years with the company. Subsequently, Duggan, Bacardi’s current global senior VP of marketing, will assume the roles of CMO & president of Bacardi Global Brands.
The president & CMO of vodka brand Grey Goose and the Tequila portfolio, Kathy Parker, will absorb Bombay Sapphire gin into her responsibilities following the change.
After holding a number of global category director roles for Bacardi, Burke moved up to become CMO five years ago. Duggan, meanwhile, joined the company in 2008 as senior brand manager for Grey Goose in the US, assuming his current position in late 2018. He will relocate to London in the coming months and will join Bacardi’s ‘global leadership team’, reporting in to CEO Mahesh Madhavan.
Earlier this month, Leila Stansfield was confirmed as the group’s first female MD of Global Travel Retail operations. Stansfield will also start in the role at the start of January.
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