Diageo appoints Javier Ferran new chairman of the board
DRINKS giant Diageo yesterday announced that Javier Ferran, currently a non-executive director at SABMiller, will become its chairman on 1 January 2017.
Ferran will be appointed to the Diageo board as a non-executive director from 22 July and will take up the position of chairman on the retirement of the current chairman, Swiss-Austrian businessman Franz Humer.
Ferran is a partner at Lion Capital having been a founder partner since 2005. Prior to that he was the president and chief executive at Bacardi.
He is currently also a non-executive director at Associated British Foods and Desigual.
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Lord Mervyn Davies of Abersoch, senior non-executive director at Diageo, said: “The board is delighted that Javier has agreed to be the next chairman of Diageo. He has experience across the consumer sector, given his career at both Lion Capital and Bacardi, and he has demonstrated his ability to enable companies to drive value through the rigorous deployment of capital.
“He therefore brings a strong set of skills and experience to the role of chairman.”
Spanish businessman Ferran said: “It will be a privilege to chair the Diageo board. The company is in a strong position with leading brands, geographic reach and financial strength.
“It now has a consumer facing culture and a rigorous approach to the decisions it makes.”
Ferran added: “As chairman, it will be my role to work with the strong executive team, led by Ivan [Menezes, the CEO], to ensure that the company delivers its potential.”