Radical shake-up in Accolade Wines' management

Published: 06 August, 2012

Accolade Wines has implemented a radical shake-up which sees Australian Vintage's Paul Schaafsma move over to head up the UK business and Ted Popov lead mainland Europe.

Former European commercial general manager James Lousada is leaving the business, as his role has now been divided in two.

Accolade Wines' chief executive Troy Christensen said: "The two markets operate at different levels of maturity as far as our offer is concerned. There is significant scope within mainland Europe to grow our business - especially in Eastern Europe and across Scandinavia.

"Creating these two new roles will give both markets the focus that they deserve, something that will benefit Accolade Wines in the long-term."

Popov, formerly sales director for mainland Europe, starts his new role immediately while Schaafsma, current UK and Ireland manager for Australian Vintage, will take on Accolade's UK & Ireland from September 3.

Lousada, who previously had the overall European role was given the opportunity to take on the new UK & Ireland brief, but instead decided to leave the business.

"We are sorry to see James leave the business, as he has done an excellent job. However, creating focus on these two parts of the business is vital for Accolade Wines moving forward," said Christensen.

"We need the dual focus to ensure that we can act with greater pace and flexibility at this challenging time for the wine industry."

In an historic move last month, Accolade announced it would be working with competitor Treasury Wine Estates in a reciprocal agreement which would see the firms pack each other's wines in the UK and Australia.

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