Diageo Australia Managing Director David Smith is leaving the role after Easter to become Managing Director of Diageo Southern Europe.
He will be based in Madrid from May 1, and will have full responsibility for the businesses in Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal.
Diageo is in the process of recruiting a new MD for Australia.
Diageo Greater China & Asia President Sam Fischer said: “David has been an exceptional leader of our Australasian business over the past five years and his appointment to this exciting new role in Southern Europe is testament to his talent and character.
“I am thankful for his strong leadership and support to the wider Asia-Pacific business in that time. While it is difficult to say goodbye to David, I am sure all of you will join me in wishing him every success as he takes on this exciting challenge on the other side of the world.
“In his time in Australia, David’s energy to drive transformational change has delivered fantastic results across the board, creating value for Diageo, our categories and our customers.
“Diageo Australia has never been in better shape and David has led very strong performance with top line momentum accelerating significantly during his tenure. David’s leadership has ensured sustainable topline growth of over 5% annually, and more importantly has shaped a future-focussed strategy which ensures we are set up for long-term growth.”
Smith said he wanted to thank his entire team at Diageo Australia.
“I have been lucky to work with a terrific team of people, who are innovative, collaborative and brilliant at execution,” he said. “They care about the company’s role in our community, what contribution we make to the economy through jobs and activity, and the experiences that our products create for our consumers. I am proud to work for a company like Diageo that puts reputation and trust at the front of everything they do.
“I want to thank our customers for their collaboration and support — the big retail chains, the proud independent bottle shops, the thousands of great hotels across Australia, the hundreds of small bars and many other restaurants and hospitality venues. Australia has a fantastic alcohol and hospitality industry that is world class and we should be proud of it.”
Smith’s proud diversity legacy
Smith was part of an Embrace Difference International Women’s Day panel discussion with CUB’s Rose Scott and Coles Liquor’s Trish Unwin last week where he discussed his hope that 12 months from now every woman in the drinks industry would see every man as an equality “ally”.
He also discussed the success of Diageo’s new 26-week family leave policy for all employees.
“It’s been going about nine months we’ve had 18 family leavers so far and we’ve got 10 booked to go,” Smith said.
“I’m thrilled with the way people have embraced it and worked together and how our customers have leaned in. They’ve said ‘we understand what you’re trying to do and we support it’.”
Smith referred to Sheryl Sandberg once saying that careers today aren’t a ladder, but a jungle gym.
“And our jungle gym is looking good,” he said. “We’ve flexed up a lot of people into different roles. People have gotten opportunities much sooner than previously. We’re being braver with cross functional moves. We’re saying ‘who’s talented who can step into this role for six months?’
“And that is really creating a great dynamic where people are growing faster, careers are being accelerated, so that’s good. Our retention rate has gone way up, the quality of people we’re attracting has gone way up, the number of people we’re attracting has gone way up. So while there are challenges I recommend it to all businesses in the room.
“There will come a time when it’s the norm, but don’t wait for it to be the norm, let’s make it the norm. And it hasn’t cost us a huge amount of money. It’s really been positive for us.”
