Guinness Nigeria’s MD Promoted President, Diageo Africa

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aking effect from the 1st July, 2015, Mr. John O’ Keeffe, Managing Director/CEO of Guinness Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of Diageo Plc, will resume as the President, Diageo Africa joining the Diageo Executive Committee and reporting to Dr. Nick Blazquez, President Africa and Asia. Since assuming duty as Guinness Nigeria’s Managing Director/CEO in November 2014, Mr. O’Keeffe’s has been engaged primarily with sustaining the recovery of the business, building it fit for purpose commercial organisation and improving employee morale and engagement while growing and broadening the company’s innovation portfolio. Under his leadership, the improvement in the performance of the business has accelerated. In a related development, Guinness Nigeria has also announced the appointment of Mr. Soren Lauridsen as Mr. O’Keeffe’s successor. Mr. Lauridsen joins Diageo from Carlsberg and brings with him considerable experience in the beer category and knowledge of emerging markets. During his 10 year career at Carlsberg, Mr. Lauridsen held senior leadership roles including Regional CEO of South Asia, based in Bangkok and Managing Director for Carlsberg India. He also has leadership experience of working for Carlsberg in Laos and Poland. Prior to working at Carlsberg, he worked as Category Director for Orkla Foods covering Nordics and Eastern Europe for 3 years and held several leadership positions in Unilever Foods for 13 years. Mr. Lauridsen will resume in his role in May 2015 and will work alongside Mr. O’Keeffe until the end of the financial year in June to ensure a smooth transition; Mr. O’Keeffe will however continue as a Non-Executive Director of Guinness Nigeria and as the Diageo executive responsible for Diageo’s African business, will continue to stay involved with the Nigerian business