Diageo’s President Greater China and Asia, Sam Fischer, has announced that former Managing Director of Treasury Wine Estates, Angus McPherson will take over from David Smith at Diageo Australia later this month.
McPherson will report into Fischer and will lead Diageo’s Australia and New Zealand business.
Fischer said: “I’m delighted to welcome Angus to Diageo. He has many years of international experience working in the beverage alcohol industry. He will bring deep sales and marketing experience and performance delivery discipline, and drive outstanding relationships with the team, customers and industry in this exciting market.
“Over the past eight years, he’s held various Managing Director roles at Treasury Wine Estates, with increasing scale and complexity.
“He led the transformation of Treasury’s Australia and New Zealand business, where he and his cross-functional team grew flagship wine brands and successfully launched a number of disruptive innovations in the market, as well as significantly improving the supply chain.
“He has built strong relationships with key retailers in the market and held board positions on DrinkWise, Alcohol Beverages Australia and Australian Grape and Wine Inc (formerly the Australian Winemakers Federation).
“In his last position at Treasury he had accountability for the largest business in North America and led the global sales function. He has developed diverse teams and grown talent, including succession from within his team.”
Speaking about his appointment, McPherson said: “I’m excited about joining Diageo, a company that globally is one of the best brand builders in our industry. I look forward to working with the team in Australia, building on the platform that David and the entire team have put in place over the past five years.
“These are challenging times for many of our customers, and I’m energised around working to find solutions to support the customers that are such great partners with Diageo.”
McPherson is currently working through a transition and virtual handover with Smith to move into the role this month. Smith is moving to Spain to take up a new role with Diageo as Managing Director, Southern Europe.