CHICAGO -- The Board of Directors of beer-marketing joint venture MillerCoors named Gavin Hattersley to the role of chief executive officer, following former CEO Tom Long, who retired on June 30. Hattersley, 52, had been serving as the interim CEO of MillerCoors since July 1, in addition to his role as chief financial officer of Molson Coors.
MillerCoors is a U.S. and Puerto Rican joint venture between SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co.
“Gavin is the right person to lead MillerCoors forward,” said Pete Coors, chairman of the MillerCoors Board of Directors and vice chairman of Molson Coors. “Gavin has a great handle on what needs to be done to achieve growth at MillerCoors, and he has the complete confidence of the board, the employees and the distributor network to achieve this aspiration.”
“Gavin knows both parent companies incredibly well, and he knows the MillerCoors business better than anyone,” said Alan Clark, chief executive of SABMiller. “In his few short months as interim leader, he has quickly taken action across a number of areas. He has shown a deep understanding of the strategic issues facing the business and the need to prioritize returning MillerCoors to total volume growth in the years ahead.”
“Gavin combines his business knowledge with a healthy dose of impatience that’s needed at MillerCoors,” said Mark Hunter, CEO of Molson Coors. “MillerCoors has a tremendous portfolio of brands, and they deserve a leader who will be able to focus all of his energy and efforts against growing the business.”
Hattersley’s appointment is effective immediately. He follows Tom Long and Leo Kiely as the previous two CEOs of the MillerCoors joint venture. Hattersley and his wife, Terry, will relocate to Chicago.
“I am humbled and honored to lead MillerCoors forward,” Hattersley said. “The passion and energy that our employees and distributors have for growing this business is awesome. We have a lot of work to do to meet our ambitious goals, but we have the people, brands and firepower to do it. My job is to galvanize and focus our collective efforts and inspire the company to take smart risks, execute the right ideas and, ultimately, grow our total volume and shareholder value.”
Molson Coors has begun the process of identifying Hattersley’s successor as CFO. Hattersley will remain in a dual capacity as MillerCoors CEO and CFO of Molson Coors until mid-November.
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