Beam Suntory this morning named new leadership for its North America region. Greg Hughes, President of North America, and Jessica Spence, President of Brands, will swap roles effective January 1. As President of North America, Spence will lead commercial operations in the region, including the company’s largest and most profitable market, the US.
Spence joined Beam Suntory in 2019 from Carlsberg Group, where she served as Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing the company’s global marketing, sales, insights, R&D and innovation functions. She previously served as Carlsberg’s Senior Vice President of Commercials based in Copenhagen and in senior commercial and marketing roles for Carlsberg Asia based in Hong Kong.
Before joining Carlsberg in 2012, Spence held marketing roles of increasing responsibility for SABMiller in Russia, Slovakia and Poland, as well as in business development based in London. She has prior experience with global advertising agencies Leo Burnett and J Walter Thompson.
Spence graduated from Cambridge University, the London School of Economics & Political Science (post-graduate diploma), and INSEAD (MBA). She resides in Chicago.
“As we position Beam Suntory for its next stage of growth and approach the end of a very successful year, these leadership and market alignment moves maintain strong continuity and help further our global growth ambitions in premium spirits and RTD,” said Albert Baladi, CEO of Beam Suntory.
