Pernod Ricard has made changes to its organisation that the Jameson whiskey owner hopes will make the company more efficient and able to make decisions faster.
The France-based wine-and-spirits group, due to publish its annual financial results tomorrow (31 August), has altered the way its executive team is set up and adjusted how it groups its geographic units.
In a statement, Pernod Ricard said the changes “will ensure even greater efficiency at all levels of the company” as well as “a closer proximity and reactivity to the dynamic global marketplace”.
The company, also home to brands including Beefeater gin and Mumm Champagne, is replacing its executive board with a nine-person executive committee.
The committee, which will include North America CEO Ann Mukherjee among its new members, will work with group chairman and chief executive Alexandre Ricard on directing the business.
Philippe Guettat, the chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard Asia, and Gilles Bogaert – who holds the same roles for the company’s EMEA/LatAm division – will sit on the committee in new positions. Guettat will be executive vice president for global brands. Bogaert has been given the job of executive vice president for global markets.
A fourth new member of the exec committee is Maria Pia De Caro, Pernod Ricard’s global director of operations, who has been with the business since the start of the year after joining from frozen-food group Nomad Foods.
Pernod Ricard has also shaken up the way it manages its business geographically. The regional entities covering both Asia and EMEA/LatAm have been scrapped “to ensure faster execution and decision-making at every level of the organisation”, the company said.
The group has decided to place all its markets into ten “management entities, ensuring critical scale and fostering mutualisation”.
Mr Ricard, who has been at the helm since 2015, said: “In an increasingly complex and volatile environment, I am confident our new organisation will allow us to successfully move to a new stage of sustainable, stretched, and profitable growth, benefiting to all our stakeholders.”
Long-standing Pernod Ricard executive Christian Porta, who has worked for the business for more than three decades, is retiring. His most recent position was as managing director for global business development.
Asked about the overall impact on jobs, a spokesperson added: “The idea is to adapt our governance. The removal of the two small entities in terms of headcount of Pernod Ricard LatAm and Asia is not material. It is not a financial cost exercise. The aim is to support the group’s ambition with a simplified organisation, to align structures and accountabilities across all functions.”
