Bacardi Limited has announced the internal appointment of Mauricio Vergara to the position of Global Category Vice President of Rums. As follows, Mr. Vergara is now responsible for the Bacardi portfolio of rums, including the iconic BACARDI rum brand and the super-premium rums within the portfolio of the FACUNDO Rum Collection.

Mr. Vegara now succeeds Dmitry Ivanov who was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer of Bacardi and President of Bacardi Global Brands in January.

Due to his twenty years of experience working in both marketing and commercial roles – 15 of which were in beverage industry – Mr. Ivanov believes that Mr. Vegara will be well suited to this role however.

“Mauricio brings extensive industry knowledge to the role complemented by a deep understanding of the overall Bacardi business, how our global and regional functions collaborate, and the unique entrepreneurial spirit and culture that makes Bacardi so special.

“With his knowledge and experience in both the commercial and marketing side of the spirits business, the transition to a global category will be seamless.”

Mr. Vegara’s responsibilities extend to developing the global marketing strategy of the rum category and leading the creation of global promotional, creative and packing assets, as well as directing the development of brand innovation and line extensions. He will remain based in London at the Bacardi Global Brands office and will report to Mr. Ivanov.

This week, Bacardi Ltd. also announced that it had begun a restructure of its North America business in an effort to reduce costs. The restructure is expected to see the company cut approximately 10 per cent of staff in the region.