Chief Executive Officer North America for a publicly traded Russian spirits company

A major player in the Russian ultra-premium alcohol market, the client had been strengthening its market position through M&A transactions, new product development and new markets penetration. The company’s management together with its Board decided to place a heavy emphasis on geographical expansion with a priority on the US market.

In this context, Board Solutions launched a search for a CEO for their North America Division.

The CEO’s main mission was to articulate and implement a market entry strategy with a twofold task - choose the right distribution partners, and define a proper pricing and marketing policy. That also involved building a team and creating privileged partnership relations with major distributors including Duty Free operators.

Candidates for the role had to be seasoned spirits industry executives with strong North America experience. In the course of their business careers they had been actively involved in sales management, marketing and merchandising as well as dealt with operations in mature and highly competitive markets.

Our search efforts focused on the largest global spirits companies, major premium alcohol distributors, and airline sales/purchasing operators in the US.

The assignment was successfully completed with the hiring of an American executive who had previously run the Duty Free operations of a first-tier global spirits company and later the North American business of one of the largest Champagne houses.

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