Campari Group has lined up its next CEO as Simon Hunt prepares to take the helm.
Hunt, who held the same position at spirits rival William Grant & Sons between 2016 and 2020, has been proposed by the board at Campari Group, ahead of a special general meeting scheduled for 15 January. He will fill the space created in September when Matteo Fantacchiotti stood down for personal reasons after five months as CEO.
Hunt’s career in beverage alcohol started in 1994, taking in time with Diageo as VP of global marketing, with Pernod Ricard, as CEO of the Malibu Kahlua International division, as well as with William Grant. Having joined the Glenfiddich owner to head up its North America operations in 2007, the following 13 years saw him become CCO before a further promotion in early 2016 to the CEO post. He left the group four years ago.
At the start of 2022, Hunt took the lead at UK-based Catalyst Spirits, with the start-up connecting with Campari Group eight months later through a stake purchase in Catalyst’s Howler Head banana-flavoured bourbon brand. The group paid US$15m for a 15% holding in the American whiskey and has a call option in place to buy the brand outright from next year.
Before the year was out, Campari Group also agreed to buy a 15% stake in Catalyst itself.
“I have always held Campari Group in the highest regard …,” said Hunt today. “I look forward to working with Campari Group’s … leadership team and organisation to continue to build on the company’s … success built over the past decades, and to take Campari Group’s potential and growth ambition to its next level.’
In its most recent set of results, for the nine months to the end of September, Campari Group booked a 2.1% year-on-year sales lift, although the third quarter came in down by 1.4%.
