Quintessential Brands announces senior leadership shake-up

Quintessential Brands Group has announced changes to its senior leadership team, with James Lousada taking the helm as CEO. 

The company will also see new management in its marketing team, with Rob Curteis, former global marketing director for the company's gin portfolio, taking on the role of group marketing director and joining the senior exectutive team.

In his new post Curteis will be responsible for establishing the group's category approach, bolstering its premium brands and its Irish whiskey brands, and he will also lead the team supporting trade customers to improve their offering, including building their own brands. 

One of Curteis' first moves in office was to review Quintessential Brands' marketing function, which led to the creation of a dedicated customer marketing team for the UK and EMEA. This will be led by Russell Kirkham, formerly the company's UK marketing director, who will also be responsible for overseeing the company's customer insights function.

Retailer brands marketing director Neil Anderson, who joined Quintessential Brands in January, continues in his role.

Lousada said: "I'm incredibly proud of the way everyone at Quintessential Brands has responded to the challenges we've faced this year. The team has worked tirelessly to support our customers throughout this pandemic so far, recognising that what our customers need most from us is agility, flexibility, collaboration and commitment, and that is exactly what we have demonstrated.

"In today's world, where many operators are looking for category solutions and for guidance on how to respond to the seismic changes this year has brought and their impact on consumer behaviour, Quintessential Brands is very well placed to help."

It is the latest in a raft of changes to the Quintessential Brands senior executive team since the start of the year, with new CFO Alex Pollard joining in January 2020 and Jacqueline Drury promoted to group general counsel in May. 

6 November 2020 - Bethany Whymark