Dr Tim Cooper appointed IBD President
The boss of Coopers Brewery has been appointed President of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), the brewing and distilling industries’ largest global body. Dr Tim, as he is called, is Managing Director of the largest Australian-owned beer company, located in Adelaide.
Dr Cooper is a fifth generation Cooper, with the unusual combination of qualifications in brewing and medicine. He completed his medical studies (MBBS, Adelaide) in 1979 and practised hospital medicine for seven years, working mainly in the UK as a registrar in medicine and cardiology. In 1986-87 he took time off medicine to study brewing science (MSc, Birmingham). Before returning to Australia to join the family brewery, he received a doctorate in medicine in 1990 for research in cardiopulmonary medicine.
At Coopers he was first Technical Manager before becoming Operations Manager in 1993. He later completed his MBA and took on the responsibility of Project Director for the design and construction of Coopers’ new brewery at Regency Park, which was opened in 2001.
Dr Cooper will serve a one-year term at the helm of the 5,000-member IBD, having already acted as its Deputy President for a two-year term.
Recently, Dr Cooper told Australian media that the beer industry is going through a resurgence thanks to the popularity of craft beer. “Craft breweries and distillers are opening across the world on a daily basis and this has led to the situation where demand for qualified brewers and brewery workers has reached unprecedented levels,” he said.
“The IBD is about improving the education and understanding of everyone involved in or entering the industry and helping to underpin the quality of the beers being developed,” he explained.
