Heads will roll at Carlsberg

The Carlsberg Group announced that Khalil Younes, 45, has been appointed Senior Vice President, Group Innovation, Sales & Marketing and Nils Østbirk, 44, has been appointed Senior Vice President, Western Europe.

They replace Vice President Jan Hillesland and Senior Vice President Alex Myers respectively. Consequently both will be leaving the Carlsberg Group.

Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen, President & CEO of the Carlsberg Group, said:

“Following the Scottish & Newcastle-acquisition Carlsberg has been transformed into a much larger and more global Fast Moving Consumer Goods company. This requires strong and internationally experienced leadership throughout the organisation. We have an ambitious strategy in place which has driven changes in our processes, organisation and culture. Going forward, international experience and strong execution power will be key competencies.”

Alex Myers and Jan Hillesland are not the only ones to leave. They are joined by Senior Vice President Jesper Bjørn Madsen, who was in charge of Carlsberg’s business in Asia.

The company statement admits that Mr Madsen who is responsible for the Asia Region has been key in building and developing Carlsberg’s presence in the region through partnerships and acquisitions. However, – and here comes the reason why he has been made redundant – with the current scale in Asia, the future focus will also be on strong operational execution and to further increase brand development.

Therefore, Mr Madsen will step down and leave the Carlsberg Group. A search for his successor is under way.

Khalil Younes started at Carlsberg on 1 February and Nils Østbirk will start on 1 March, the brewer said.

Both executives have no previous experience of working in the brewing industry. Mr Younes has worked for the Coca-Cola Company and Mr Østbirk for the cosmetics company L’Oreal.