Bacardi Appoints First Female Boss To Run Its Global Travel Retail Business

World-wide spirits enterprise Bacardi—best identified for its white rum—is owning a reshuffle throughout some of its management roles and between the alterations will be the appointment of the first lady to guide the company’s journey retail enterprise as international controlling director.

Leila Stansfield, at the moment the on-trade sales director for Bacardi Uk & Eire, will take on the new position from January 2023. The incumbent, London-primarily based Vinay Golikeri, is moving out of journey retail, right after more than a ten years in the channel, to consider on the place of taking care of director for India and neighboring nations around the world. Golikeri replaces Sanjit Singh Randhawa who will be relocating to Dubai to grow to be director of exterior affairs for Asia Middle East & Africa and world wide vacation retail.

India and the United States are the two premier world markets for whisky—a target group for Bacardi. In India, the spirit will see quantity progress of 23{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} concerning 2021 and 2026 according to drinks analyst IWSR.

College of Cambridge-educated Stansfield has previous—though limited-lived—experience of the vacation retail channel obtaining held large-level roles this kind of as finance director (from 2015 to 2016) and promoting director (from 2016 to 2017). Perhaps a lot more importantly, she has experienced senior posts in approach growth, reporting directly to the CEO of Bermuda-headquartered Bacardi, a business in which she has labored for 12 a long time.

Stansfield’s wider practical experience in ahead strategic scheduling will possible be relevant to the travel retail channel as it arrives out of a very deep trough, with shakeouts and some consolidation inescapable. For example, airport retailer Dufry is merging with Autogrill, and spirits manufacturers are scrambling for passenger awareness now that travel quantities are mounting rapidly after Covid. Stansfield claimed that the moment back again in vacation retail up coming year she would produce “mutually useful tactics for development with retail partners.”

A wine and spirits rebound

Following two decades of contraction, the liquor organization in journey retail has witnessed a potent rebound this 12 months for Bacardi’s rivals like Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman
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. Bacardi, the biggest privately enable spirits firm in the globe, stays restricted-lipped about its economical functionality but it has ramped up its airport marketing action this calendar year, and will continue to do so in the coming months, in the vital operate-up to Christmas.

For case in point, for 3 months from July to September, Bacardi ran a pop-up whisky emporium at Istanbul Airport in partnership with Gebr. Heinemann and joint undertaking companion Unifree Duty Totally free. The venue showcased makes like Dewar’s and the single malts Aberfeldy, Craigellachie, Glen Deveron and Royal Brackla, complete with vapor infusion jars and a wax-dipping services.

A time of transformational opportunity”

Commenting on the executive rejigs, Vijay Subramaniam, Bacardi’s regional president for Asia, Center East and Africa and for world wide journey retail, reported: “Vinay has played a pivotal role in producing our world journey retail organization. The previous several several years have been specifically complicated for this channel, and Vinay has productively navigated the issues of the pandemic. Leila brings useful commercial acumen from throughout our company. This is a time of transformational possibility for international travel retail… and she will increase strategic brand name-setting up and commercial options.”

Bacardi, the most awarded rum manufacturer, also has power in top quality gin with Bombay Sapphire
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, the variety 1 gin in journey retail in 2021 (by benefit), and in super-top quality vodka with the brand Grey Goose, which grew by 68{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} last year (source: IWSR).