MILWAUKEE -- Miller Brewing Co. has named Tom Long president and CEO, succeeding Norman Adami, who has been promoted to president and CEO of SABMiller Americas. Randy Ransom will join Miller as executive vice president and chief marketing officer, succeeding Long. The appointments are effective Aug. 1, 2006.
Long was appointed chief marketing officer of Miller Brewing in July 2005. During his career, Long has held senior positions in beverage sales, marketing and general management, working in more than 60 countries. He came to Miller from The Coca-Cola [image-nocss] Co., where he most recently served as president of Coca-Cola Northwest Europe Division. Prior to that, he served as president of Coca-Cola Great Britain & Ireland. Long joined Coca-Cola in 1988 and held a variety of management positions during his tenure including vice president of 7-Eleven account team worldwide; vice president of Wal-Mart global account, vice president of national sales; vice president and director of presearch, research and trends; and vice president and director of global strategic marketing.
Tom Cardella, who currently heads Miller's international brand and market development functions including business strategy and planning, will take on an expanded role as executive vice president for sales and distribution. Cardella will continue to lead Miller's pricing strategy group as well the international brands team.
Ransom was most recently president of ConvergencePoint Group, a consulting firm focusing on assisting organizations with capitalizing on cross-cultural market trends and opportunities. Before that, he served as senior vice president of portfolio strategy for Coca-Cola North America. Before joining Coca-Cola North America, Ransom served as director of International business development for FEMSA Corporate and chief marketing officer for FEMSA Cerveza. While at FEMSA, Ransom was a member of the company board. Prior to FEMSA, Ransom held a series of domestic and international positions within The Coca-Cola Co. Before his original stint at Coca-Cola, he spent more than 10 years in ethnic marketing and advertising.
Doug Brodman, who currently heads Miller's sales and distribution organization, will become senior vice president of Miller International, overseeing Miller's export and international franchise business.
Brodman was appointed senior vice president of sales and distribution for Miller Brewing in February 2002. Prior to that, Brodman served as vice president of national accounts and sales planning; vice president if national accounts from August 2001 until 2002; and regional vice president of the eastern region from July 1999 until August 2001. Before joining Miller, Brodman worked in the beer business for nearly 18 years, serving as a sales executive for the Stroh Brewery Co., the G. Heileman Brewing Co. and Van Munching & Co. He was vice president of sales for Van Munching, which imported Heineken from the Netherlands, until 1994, when he joined Heileman as vice president of the Northeast. He was vice president of the Northeast for Stroh, which purchased Heileman, from 1996 until 1999.
In addition, Charlie Frenette, a nonexecutive director of Miller Brewing and a special advisor to the company, has agreed to serve as the interim leader of Miller's business strategy and planning function while a permanent executive is selected within the next six months.
These management changes are the culmination of three years of deliberate work to build a strong management team at Miller, Adami said. I am confident that this leadership team will step up our game at Miller.
Under Norman's leadership during the turnaround phase, Miller restored itself as a truly competitive player in the American beer industry, said Long. And with Norman's support at the Americas level, we believe we have the focused, action-oriented management team in place required to lead Miller's step up to the next level.
Miller has built a broad portfolio of beers that capture approximately 18% of the U.S. beer market, it said, led by its flagship brand, Miller Lite. The company also brews Miller Genuine Draft and Miller High Life. It imports Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell and Foster's, and brews regional craft beers Leinenkugel's and Henry Weinhard's. Near-premium beers include Milwaukee's Best Light, Olde English 800, Mickey's Malt Liquor, Icehouse and Sharp's, a nonalcohol brew. Miller is a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller plc, the world's second largest brewer.
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