12 July 2022: Today, Diageo has announced the appointment of Debra Crew as Chief Operating Officer, and Claudia Schubert as President, North America, effective 1 October 2022.
Debra is currently President, North America and Global Supply. As Chief Operating Officer, Debra will take accountability for driving continued performance momentum across Diageo’s markets, brands and supply operations globally, and will continue to report to Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive.
In July 2020, Debra was appointed President, North America. She has embedded greater external focus and connectivity across the market’s teams and strengthened commercial execution, resulting in market share gains and 20% organic net sales growth in fiscal 21, and 13% organic net sales growth in the first half of fiscal 22*.
Debra is the former president and CEO of Reynolds American, Inc., having previously served as president and chief operating officer, and president and chief commercial officer. Prior to that, Debra spent five years at PepsiCo, where she served as president, North America Nutrition; president, PepsiCo Americas Beverages; and president, Western Europe Region. Prior to PepsiCo, Debra held positions with Kraft Foods, Nestlé S.A., and Mars, Inc. She currently serves on the board of Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE: SWK).
With Debra’s appointment, Claudia Schubert is appointed President, North America, and will join the Diageo Executive Committee. Since being appointed President, US Spirits and Canada, in 2018, Claudia has reshaped the market’s strategy, put in place a strengthened route to market and built trusted partnerships with Diageo’s distributors in order to deliver strong growth. In fiscal 21, organic net sales grew 24% in US Spirits, and 15% in the first half of fiscal 22*. Claudia brings 20 years of market and category experience at Diageo, having led the company’s Continental and Eastern Europe, US Wines and US Control States businesses. She began her career as a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group.
Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive, commented: “Diageo has a world class executive team with significant strength and depth of experience. Debra and Claudia have proven track records as outstanding leaders inside and outside our company. Their appointments will ensure that we continue to adapt to the changing environment so that we can deliver our performance ambition while making a positive impact wherever we work, source and sell. I am excited to work more closely with Debra in her new role, and with Claudia as she joins the Executive Committee, as together we continue to build momentum and deliver long-term sustainable growth and value creation for all our stakeholders.”
