John Karem takes on Stoli in US duty free

John Karem has been appointed North America duty free director for SPI, owner of Stolichnaya vodka. He will be responsible for Stolichnaya premium vodka and ultra-luxury vodka, Elit in North America’s duty free outlets.

"John’s expertise in the travel retail space and spirits industry savvy, coupled with his extensive background in global business development and sales management will be a huge asset to our expanding duty free sector in North America,” said Jean-Philippe Aucher, global duty free and travel retail director.

John joins the SPI Group from Bibo Mundi, where he served as principal and specialised in identifying winery and distillery purchase opportunities, negotiating terms of sale, financial modeling and designing strategic solutions from white board to bottle to shelf. 

Prior to Bibo Mundi, John was director of global business development at Phillips Distilling Company, and before that, he was VP of brand development at Liquidity LLC, the creator of Pinky Vodka, the second-best-selling luxury vodka in London Heathrow duty free. 

John will be based in Miami and report directly to Jean-Philippe Aucher.

8 November 2013 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor