US canned-water business Liquid Death has appointed an ex-Beam Suntory executive as its new chief financial officer.
Karim Sadik-Khan is set to take on the role having worked at Beam Suntory North America for more than a decade, including during Jim Beam’s IPO in 2011 and the acquisition of Jim Beam by Suntory Holdings in 2014.
Prior to Beam Suntory, Sadik-Khan held finance roles at PepsiCo, Dr. Pepper-Snapple (now Keurig-Dr Pepper) and IBM.
“At Liquid Death, we’ve driven triple-digit retail scanned sales growth for the past three years, so we are thrilled to bring on Karim, an experienced financial leader in the beverage world, as we execute on further growth and expansion strategies,” founder and CEO Mike Cessario said.
“We are scaling a high-growth company with a foundation of strong fundamentals and solid financials, and Karim will be integral to that work. We’re excited to welcome him to the Liquid Death team.”
In March, Liquid Death raised a further $67m investment as the business set out its intention to become “a multi-category beverage platform”.
Running sales since 2019, the company has expanded past its initial canned water with canned iced teas produced and sold in the US since March last year.
“After nearly two decades of experience in the beverage industry, I strongly believe that CPG value creation starts with building great brands, and I’ve never seen a better brand builder than Liquid Death,” Sadik-Khan said.
“Liquid Death is a healthy beverage platform with a sizeable, global market potential in water, sparkling water, tea, and beyond, and I’m honoured to be joining this world-class team at an exciting inflection point for the business.”
Liquid Death claims to have made $263m through retail sales in 2023. The company is present in 133,000 stores across the US and the UK.
In October, Liquid Death appointed former Mark Anthony Brands and Stoli Group executive Stephan Ballard as chief commercial officer.