By James Atkinson
Beam Inc. has announced the appointment of Cameron Simpson, formerly of PepsiCo, to the newly created position of chief operating officer to lead its Australia and New Zealand business.
As COO for Oceania, Simpson’s responsibilities will include driving growth in Beam’s second largest global market, Australia.
His appointment follows a restructure last month that led to the departure of MD Steve Inch and bourbon marketer, Ray Noble.
Simpson comes to Beam with extensive consumer packaged goods experience, most recently with PepsiCo where he led sales for the $1.5bn Australian snack division (Smith’s Snackfood Company) as the senior sales director and member of the PepsiCo executive leadership team responsible for Australia and New Zealand.
Prior to that appointment, Simpson led the grocery national account team in addition to the customer marketing team.
"Cameron brings to Beam a wealth of commercial expertise and a proven track record of building brands and successful businesses," said Nicholas Fink, president of the Asia Pacific/South America region of Beam.
"I am confident with his breadth and depth of business experience and results in leading consumer packaged goods companies that Cameron will be an excellent leader as we further build our business and grow for the future."
Beam has also confirmed that Trent Chapman has been promoted to the new position of marketing director – core brands.