2nd International Brewing Convention, Manchester, UK

Everyone in the brewing industry who wants to manage their companies successfully has to stay ahead of developing trends. This is also mirrored in the motto of the second International Brewing Convention, “Ahead of the Curve”, which took place in Manchester, UK, from 18 to 20 October 2010 and was jointly organised by the Institute of Brewing (IBD) and the Brewing, Food & Beverage Industry Suppliers´ Association (BFBi).

Shareholders and Supervisory Board of KHS GmbH have appointed Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Niemeyer (43) as CEO of KHS GmbH, effective as of April 1, 2011. Prof. Niemeyer has been a member of the KHS Executive Management Board since September 14, 2009 and has been previously responsible for the technology division. He will continue in this position in addition to his duties and responsibilities as CEO. The present CEO, Roland Flach (66), will be retiring from this office on March 31, 2011.

Dr.-Ing. habil. Stefan Kreisz (41) was appointed Research Director for Brewing and Yeast Technology at the renowned Carlsberg Research Center in Kopenhagen, Denmark. He started working in this position on 1 January 2011.

A welcome diversion

It was crowded at this year’s Brau Beviale, even behind the scenes of the traditionally well-attended halls and stands. The BRAUWELT Brunch, organised by Fachverlag Hans Carl GmbH, which took place at   Thursday, 13 November 2010, from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm, again attracted representatives from industry, organisations, universities and other institutions from Germany and abroad.

Hayes, 44, is currently president and chief operating officer of Ball. He joined the company in 1999. Hoover, 65, has been Ball’s CEO since 2001. He has been a member of Ball’s board of directors since 1996 and will remain its chairman.

Mr. Jürg Zuber was nominated as Managing Director of this new company. Jürg Zuber has been with the Filtrox Group for over 10 years.

Consider this: A young women of 27, suddenly thrown into the awesome responsibility of managing a century old company. Such was the task that Sabine Weyermann faced on August 3, 1985, when her father Heinz, not even 60 years old, suddenly passed away. Only four years earlier, in the family tradition, Sabine had finished her brew engineering degree at Weihenstephan, but the next few years were a fast track of on-the-job training. By 1989, she had found a partner in her new husband, Thomas Kraus, also a Weihenstephan-trained brew engineer.

Mr. Lowe joined Husky in 1987, and since that time, has held a number of leadership positions in the company’s North American Sales organization. A transition of Mr. Lowe’s responsibilities will begin October 1, 2010, with an official retirement beginning early 2011.

Mondi Tire Kutsan, supplier of corrugated packaging in Turkey, has appointed Haluk Kaya as its new CEO and Board Member as of September 1st.

On 1 August 2010 Volker Jährling assumed management of the world wide sales of MHT Mold / Hotrunner Technology AG in Hochheim/Main. In doing so he assumes the position of successor to Rolf Steinmetz who left the company on 30 June.

Creating an authoritative single voice on food contact and sustainability issues to present to government and European legislative authorities, is a priority for Jan Homan, newly-elected chairman of Flexible Packaging Europe and chief executive officer of Constantia Flexibles.

Daniel L. Jones, President and CEO of HayssenSandiacre, has announced the promotion of Mike May to the newly created position of Executive Vice President. The news marks the first phase of a carefully planned leadership transition that will culminate with May’s appointment as company president upon Jones’ retirement in 2011. In his expanded role, May will assume progressing stages of responsibility for each aspect of the business as HayssenSandiacre continues to grow its position as a global leader in horizontal and vertical form fill and seal equipment and support services for the packaging industry.

Craft Brewers Conference in Chicago draws a crowd

You have to give it to the U.S. craft brewers: they know how to organise a beerfest. For a full week, beer was the talk of town. On Monday 5 April 2010 judging began for the 2010 World Beer Cup competition which seamlessly merged with the Craft Brewers Conference kicking off on Wednesday 7 April 2010 with the impressive Welcome Reception at the Field Museum of Natural History. Throughout the week, brewpubs, restaurants and distributors hosted special events with eminent and media savvy “brewing warlords” like Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery, Nick Floyd of Three Floyds Brewing and the “Grandfather of Microbrewing” Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing. The week’s final highlight was the World Beer Cup Gala Awards dinner on Saturday 10 April 2010, when 268 gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to brewers from around the world.

Mark Jensen has been appointed CEO in Carlsberg Sweden effective as of 1 May 2010. He comes from a position as Vice President Business Development Northern Europe and was before that responsible for integrating Brasseries Kronenbourg into Carlsberg Group. He replaces Otto Drakenberg who has decided to leave Carlsberg.