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New Diageo president for merged US and Canada spirits business

Published:  22 September, 2016

Smirnoff producer Diageo has named a new chairman for its North American and Canadian spirits businesses, uniting the two territories.

Smirnoff producer Diageo has named a new chairman for its North American and Canadian spirits businesses, uniting the two territories.

From October 1, Tom Looney will take over national accounts and central commercial responsibilities from the current chief commercial officer for North America, Jeff Ivey, who is due to retire in June.

Looney will also take over Jakob Ripshtein's responsibilities as president of Diageo Canada.

Peter Kourtis will continue to lead Diageo's Canada sales organisation as general manager, reporting to Looney.

Ivey will stay on in a transitional role through to next June.

"The changes we are announcing today will support our business strategy and productivity goals," said Deirdre Mahlan, president of Diageo North America.

"This is part of an ongoing effort to ensure that our strategic assets?our people and culture, brands, processes and technology?are positioned optimally so that we can reinvest in our business to deliver sustained performance."

Mahlan paid tribute to Ivey as a "thoughtful, strategic leader".

She said: "With a long career in this industry, Jeff's leadership and vision has helped shape leading commercial execution in Diageo and in our dedicated distributors.

"Jeff is known as a thoughtful, strategic leader whose experience has helped him navigate the complexities of our industry in ways that have helped move our business forward, especially with regard to distributor alignment."

The changes to Diageo's US commercial leadership team comes after reports circulated that the company is making plans to make cuts across its global operations - including 400 jobs in the UK.

Over the past few years, things have been troublesome in its most profitable region, America, although globally, Diageo has bounced back with total net profit £2.24 billion in full-year sales totalling £10.49 billion.

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