By Andy Young
Diageo Australia has confirmed that Commercial Director Simon Tamke will be leaving the business in early 2017.
Tamke took over the Commercial Director role at the end of last year, following David Halliday’s move to Campari. Diageo Australia said Tamke’s decision for personal reasons, based around relocating his family from Adelaide to Sydney.
A spokesperson for Diageo said: “I can confirm that our Commercial Director, Simon Tamke, will be leaving Diageo on 1 February 2017. This was a personal but difficult decision for Simon, who has been commuting from Adelaide to Sydney for almost a year and had originally planned to relocate to Sydney, where our head office is based.
“After significant deliberation Simon and his family have decided they would prefer not to disrupt their arrangements by moving to Sydney or continuing to commute between Sydney and Adelaide.”
Diageo Australia’s Managing Director, David Smith, added: “While I am disappointed that this means we will be losing Simon, I totally understand and respect his reasons for not wanting to uproot his family. We are in the process of looking for a new Commercial Director, however until 1 February 2017, it is very much business as usual with Simon continuing to lead our great commercial team as we move in to one of the busiest trading periods.”
In November 2012 Tamke joined Diageo Australia as the State Manager for SA/NT and Head of Third Party before being promoted to head of key accounts in July 2013. He was promoted to Commercial Director in November last year.