Ste Michelle Wine Estates has parted company with its current CEO of two years.
David Dearie, who was CEO of Treasury Wine Estates for a similar period of time nine years ago, will leave the Washington-headquartered group to “move closer to his family and pursue his other interests”, according to Ste Michelle. The news coincides with a business review that sees the creation of three region-based “commercial divisions”.
During his time with Ste Michelle, Dearie oversaw a change of ownership, when private equity firm Sycamore Partners acquired the business a year ago from tobacco giant – and 10%-stakeholder in Anheuser-Busch InBev – Altria Group. Details of the next step in Dearie’s career, which also includes almost ten years at Brown-Forman, were not disclosed.
Going forward, Ste Michelle will comprise three units: California, Oregon and Washington. David Bowman, CEO of the group’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars business, will assume the president position for California, while Amy Prosenjak, who transitioned to Ste Michelle through the purchase of A to Z Wineworks last month, will continue to head up operations in Oregon. Meanwhile, chief growth officer Toby Whitmoyer, whose beverage career includes eight years with Diageo followed by 11 years at Bacardi before joining Ste Michelle in early 2022, will be president of Washington.
Finally, Mike Lee will add the president of operations & supply chain title to his group CFO role, which he assumed in January.
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