Pernod Ricard North America reshuffles executive team

Pernod Ricard North America has made a number of executive appointments including the hiring of a chief transformational officer and a new CEO for its Corby Spirit and Wine arm.

L-r: Guillaume Thomas and Julien Hermard will move to new roles within Pernod Ricard

The new appointments are part of the French group’s plans to accelerate its transformation into an “ever-more consumer-centric company”, streamline its way of working and enable “increased effectiveness”.

The roles will report to Pernod Ricard North America CEO Ann Mukherjee, who joined the company in December last year.

Mukherjee said: “As we adapt to an ever-changing marketplace, I’m confident that these leadership changes – along with the combined strength of our spirits and wines portfolio and our teams throughout the US and Canada – will enable Pernod Ricard North America to generate sustainable growth that beats the market.”

New positions

Pam Forbus has joined the firm as chief marketing officer after serving as senior vice president, consumer experience, insights, data strategy, analytics and planning, at Walt Disney Studio Entertainment. Forbus has also worked in senior marketing roles at PepsiCo and its US subsidiary Frito-Lay. She takes over the position at Pernod Ricard from Jonas Tahlin, who left several months ago to pursue other career interests.

In her new role, Forbus will fast-track the development of consumer-centric marketing strategies for Pernod Ricard USA’s portfolio of premium spirits.

Pierre Joncourt, current vice president of Cognac for Pernod Ricard arm Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët, has become the new senior vice president of operations for Pernod Ricard North America. Joncourt will improve operations across North America by developing a regional manufacturing strategy, launching a dedicated team to manage the supply chain and improving the pace for new products entering the market.

Pernod Ricard USA’s chief commercial officer for spirits, Julien Hermard, will leave his current role on 30 June 2020 to become group sales chief transformation officer for Pernod Ricard. A search for Hermard’s successor is in progress.

Based at the firm’s Paris HQ, Hermard will be responsible for driving the direction of commercial sales organisations globally, following his 25-year career at the group which included working at Pernod Ricard affiliates in Asia and Australia.

Mukherjee added: “I’d like to thank Julien for his many accomplishments leading the PR [Pernod Ricard] USA sales team, and I am pleased that he will continue to partner with us in his new global role.”

Internally, Guillaume Thomas, current chief financial officer, will move to the position of chief transformational officer.

With 15 years of experience at Pernod Ricard, Thomas will be in charge of creating and embedding industry-leading capabilities focused on breakthrough predictive business and commercial insights and advanced analytics to drive data-driven tech-based decision making.

Thomas will also plan and drive the key initiatives led by CEO Alexandre Ricard as part of the firm’s Transform and Accelerate plan.

The current chief financial officer of Pernod Ricard’s The Absolut Company, Mauve Croizat, will become the new chief financial officer for the firm’s North America arm. Croizat has held a number of finance roles across the group.

Nicholas Krantz will leave Spain, where he is managing director of Pernod Ricard Winemakers, to head up the firm’s Canadian distribution arm Corby Spirit and Wine as president and CEO. He replaces Patrick O’Driscoll, who has retired from the role.

Mukherjee said: “I’m very grateful for Patrick’s strong contributions to Corby’s success, and appreciate that he is assisting Nicholas on his transition into our North America business.”