Welcome at Market Watch Magazine July-August 2023 Issue

What were the words used to describe Ivan Menezes by the many people who knew and admired him? Kind, caring, brilliant. As CEO of Diageo from 2013 until his recent passing, Ivan guided the company with quiet, superb determination. He was relentlessly focused on winning, and he frequently used that verb when laying out his strategies for Diageo’s future.
While he left us at the far-too-young age of 63, Ivan Menezes did win at the game of life, and Diageo benefited enormously from having him.
It wasn’t always easy. Before being named Diageo’s chief executive in 2012, Ivan ran Diageo North America for eight years. There was a lot to manage in those days: The merger that formed Diageo in 1998 was followed by the acquisition of key brands from spirits giant Seagram in 2001. Meanwhile, Diageo had taken the opportunity to streamline and modernize its U.S. distribution, creating some disquiet at the second tier. It’s no exaggeration to say that everything was riding on how all this disruption would be managed, because the U.S. is Diageo’s most important market by far. Ivan came in and calmed the waters, helping everyone realize how beneficial change could be. He was the perfect person for that job, because amid all his mastery at managing global mega-brands, he understood that personal relationships mattered, particularly in this business.
When Ivan took the helm as chief executive of Diageo, there came a new round of challenges. Growth began to slow in the U.S. and emerging markets, and there were some bumps in the road from the sell-off of wine brands and secondary spirits. But there was no deviating from a relentless focus on premium brands—adding value, innovating, and filling portfolio gaps where needed. Perhaps Ivan’s most notable success with diversification was in Tequila, the subject of this issue’s cover story. After parting ways with Jose Cuervo in 2013, the company was briefly left with no presence in a massively emerging category. But the acquisition of Don Julio in 2014, followed by a deal for Casamigos in 2017, ultimately placed Diageo among the leaders in the field.
Amid all those high-stakes adventures in corporate management, some would say that results are all that matters. Well, during Ivan’s decade as CEO, Diageo’s scale grew by 38%, and its stock price doubled. Along the way, the company became a high-profile corporate player with a strong reputation. In all ways, it’s an impressive legacy.

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