Company Veteran Greg Hughes Ascends To Chief Executive

In case you missed last night’s news alert, Beam Suntory has announced new leadership, with president and CEO Albert Baladi set to depart after a five-year tenure at the top of the company. Succeeding Baladi on October 1 will be Greg Hughes, a company veteran who has most recently served as senior vice president, chief growth and brands officer. Beam Suntory ranks as the third-largest spirits player globally with volume of more than 60 million 9-liter cases, according to Impact Databank, behind only Diageo and Pernod Ricard.

During his time as CEO Baladi is credited with driving high single-digit gains for Beam Suntory—whose revenues total $5.5 billion annually—while accelerating the company’s premiumization push, with premium-and-above labels now accounting for the majority of sales. Baladi has been with Beam Suntory for 12 years, beginning as president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa; then president, international; and later as global COO and president of North America, before becoming CEO in 2019. He’ll stay on as CEO advisor through year-end and will remain a senior advisor for the company throughout 2024.

“This has been a very fulfilling journey for me both professionally and personally,” Baladi said in an interview with SND. “Over the last five years, I wanted to make it my legacy to really accelerate the premiumization of the company. Therefore, one of the first moves I made as CEO was to change the operating model and move from a region-centric business to a brand-centric business with the creation of brand houses, which we did in 2019. This change also anchored into our 2030 vision to make us the world’s most admired premium spirits company with some lofty financial goals and heavy premiumization ambition. We’ve made investments in capability across sustainability, digital, ready-to-drink, and many other areas. It’s been a transformative five years.” Here’s the full story.—Daniel Marsteller