E-Malt.com News article: USA: Gavin Hattersley named permanent CEO at MillerCoors

Gavin Hattersley, the chief financial officer at Molson Coors Brewing Co. who has been filling in as interim CEO at MillerCoors LLC, is getting the job permanently, the Denver Business Journal reported on September 8.

MillerCoors — the Chicago-based joint venture of Denver-based Molson Coors and London-based SABMiller plc that sells their products in the U.S. — made the announcement on September 8.

Hattersley, 52, took the interim CEO job after Tom Long retired June 30 while retaining his Molson Coors executive post. At the time, MillerCoors said it had launched a search for a permanent successor to Long.

Shortly after assuming the interim post, Hattersley replaced MillerCoors' chief marketing officer and president of sales.

The MillerCoors board — led by its chairman, Pete Coors — approved Hattersley as permanent CEO.

“Gavin is the right person to lead MillerCoors forward,” said Pete Coors, who is also vice chairman of Molson Coors. “Gavin has a great handle on what needs to be done to achieve growth at MillerCoors and he has the complete confidence of the Board, the employees and the distributor network to achieve this aspiration.”

Mark Hunter, CEO at Molson Coors, said Hattersley “combines his business knowledge with a healthy dose of impatience that’s needed at MillerCoors. MillerCoors has a tremendous portfolio of brands and they deserve a leader who will be able to focus all of his energy and efforts (on) growing the business.”

Before becoming financial chief at Molson Coors, Hattersley was CFO at MillerCoors.

"We have a lot of work to do to meet our ambitious goals, but we have the people, brands and firepower to do it," Hattersley said about his appointment. "My job is to galvanize and focus our collective efforts and inspire the company to take smart risks, execute the right ideas and, ultimately, grow our total volume and shareholder value.”

Of the three CEOs at MillerCoors since the joint venture was formed in 2008, Hattersley will be the second to come from Molson Coors. Long was a former CEO of Miller Brewing Co., a part of SABMiller. MillerCoors' first CEO, Leo Kiely, was a former Molson Coors chief executive.


09 September, 2015