New country director for Diageo Ireland

Diageo Ireland has recently appointed Oliver Loomes to take up the position of country director.

Oliver is one of Ireland’s foremost beer marketeers will head up Diageo’s commercial and sales operations on the island of Ireland in his new role.

A native of Dublin, Oliver is a graduate of UCD and the Michael Smurfit Business School, and joined Diageo in 1999 from the Mars Corporation where he had spent seven years working in a number of sales and marketing positions in Ireland, the UK and Europe.

In his 16 years with Diageo, Oliver has held a range of senior marketing positions in Diageo’s beer business across Ireland, Europe and globally. He has previously held the position of marketing and innovation director for Diageo Ireland, and in 2011 was appointed global brand director for Guinness, where he oversaw Guinness marketing programmes across more than 130 countries around the globe. Most recently as marketing director, European beer, Oliver led the marketing of Guinness and Diageo’s other European beer brands across the continent, alongside the creation of the Brewers Project, including HopHouse 13. He has also overseen Diageo’s work on its agency brands in Ireland, including Carlsberg and Budweiser. This work played a crucial role in seeing the growth of Diageo’s beer business in both Ireland and the UK in the last 12 months.

Announcing his appointment, John Kennedy, president, Diageo Europe, said:
“Our Irish business is a strong and important part of Diageo, and I’m delighted to be able to announce Oliver as our new country director. Oliver has a wealth of experience and knowledge of both the Irish business and the drinks industry in general, which he will bring to his new role. ”

Speaking about his new role Oliver Loomes said: “I’m hugely excited about taking on this role. Diageo is a company with some of Ireland’s most iconic brands, not least Guinness, Smithwick’s and Baileys, which are a vital element of what is a vibrant and dynamic Irish drinks industry. In the last 12 months Guinness has returned to growth in Ireland, and I look forward to building on that success with a great team of colleagues in Diageo Ireland.”

Oliver, who lives in south Dublin and is married with three children, takes over from David Smith who was recently appointed as managing director, Diageo Australia.

11 September 2015 - Rebecca Sterritt Paragraph Publishing, content manager