OREANDA-NEWS. Beam Suntory today announced several management changes as well as an evolution of its regional structure that will take effect on July 1.

John Owen, who most recently served as Beam Suntory’s SVP, Chief Supply Chain Officer, has been named SVP, Chief Financial Officer.  Owen joined Beam Suntory in 2013 and enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s global supply chain and helped manage the operations integration following the acquisition of Beam by Suntory.  Prior to joining Beam Suntory, Owen spent 30 years at Avon Products, during which he built an impressive track record of commercial, finance and supply chain leadership, including serving as CFO of North America and President of EMEA. 

“John is a uniquely talented enterprise-wide leader who elevated our global supply chain function, and I’m delighted that we will continue to benefit from his strong leadership, gravitas, people development skill and business expertise,” said Matt Shattock, chairman & CEO of Beam Suntory.  

Expansion of International Region & Management Changes in Asia

The company also announced that it will move from a three-region operating structure to a two-region model.  As a result, the company will combine its Asia and Japan markets and integrate them into its International Region. The result will be a simpler structure with two balanced regions of similar size and scale – Americas and International. 

“This new alignment means we’ll have two dynamic, powerhouse regions with similar economic scale,” Shattock said. “Americas is anchored in the U.S., the world’s most profitable market, where we hold the number two market position, and also includes exciting emerging market opportunities throughout Latin America.  International will drive growth in mature markets like Japan and developed Europe, while seizing emerging market opportunities across Asia and Eastern Europe.”  The regions are led by Americas president Tim Hassett and International president Albert Baladi.

Concurrent with this move, Windy Koizumi, currently president of Beam Suntory Japan, will be promoted to the newly created position of President, Asia.  In this role, to be based in Singapore, Koizumi will have responsibility for Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and Southeast Asia. He will report to Albert Baladi and remain a member of the Beam Suntory executive leadership team.

“Emerging markets in Asia are one of our most promising long-term growth opportunities, and this alignment will enable greater sharing of best practices from Japan across Asian markets,” Shattock said.  “Given the magnitude of the future opportunity in Asia, we are determined to act now to seize the opportunity.”

Succeeding Koizumi as SVP Managing Director of Beam Suntory Japan will be Sho Senba.  Senba is a 31-year veteran of Suntory who has held several key leadership roles in the spirits, beer and wine businesses.  He currently serves as COO, Group Strategy Planning of Suntory Holdings and Chairman of Suntory China Holdings.