The Brewers Association (BA) announced on January 23, 2018 that founder and past president Charlie Papazian will exit the BA on January 23, 2019, marking his 70th birthday and 40 years building the craft brewing community and inspiring brewers and beer lovers around the world.

On December 31, 2017, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Niemeyer, chairman of the Executive Management Board at the manufacturer of filling and packaging systems, is leaving the company at his own request to face new challenges elsewhere. In his years in this post he has sustainably furthered technological product development, made an important contribution to significantly increasing sales and bringing about a number of considerable improvements for both the KHS Group and its customers.The Supervisory Board of KHS GmbH thanks Prof. Niemeyer most sincerely for his committed and successful work in the service of the company and wishes him all the best for the future and continued further success in both his private life and professional career.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (Euronext: ABI) (NYSE: BUD) (MEXBOL: ANB) (JSE: ANH) announced on 13 November 2017 that Michel Doukeris has been appointed Zone President North America and CEO of Anheuser-Busch, effective January 1, 2018. Michel presently serves as Chief Sales Officer of AB InBev. He succeeds João Castro Neves, who decided to step down from the role to pursue other opportunities after a long and distinguished career with AB InBev, and will support Michel during a transitional period.

The University of Nottingham has announced the appointment of Professor David Cook to the AB-InBev Chair in Brewing Science, following the departure of Professor Joanne Hort earlier this year.

The management at RMI Analytics announced on 27 June 2017, that the renowned international grain markets expert, Dr. Klaus-Dieter Schumacher, will, on a part time basis, support the RMI team in production of publications such as the Brewing Raw Material Journal, in future seminars and workshops, on the World Barley Malt and Beer Conference and other future RMI activities.

Helena Nylén is today appointed COO at Spendrups Brewery with overall responsibility for production and distribution of Spendrups’ products. Before joining Spendrups, Helena was Head of Supply chain at the pharmaceutical company Sobi. She succeeds Gunnar Svensson, who is retiring after 27 years at Spendrups.

Fachverlag Hans Carl, Nuremberg, Germany, is pleased to announce a new peer reviewer for its scientific publication BrewingScience: Dr. Roland Feilner, Krones AG, Neutraubling, Germany.

Campden BRI has recruited a new head of regulatory affairs to support the ongoing expansion of its labelling and regulatory support services and to consolidate its expansion in international regulatory affairs.

After the current Head of the VLB Research Institute for Raw Materials (FIR), Prof. Dr. Frank Rath, announced his retirement for the end of 2017 last summer, the succession has now been resolved. Henrike Vorwerk, research associate at the FIR since 2009, will take over the leadership of the institute in 2018.

The 2nd Ludwig Narziss Award was bestowed at BrauBeviale 2016 in Nuremberg on November 10th. The award, valued at 2500 EUR, went to Dr. Konrad Müller-Auffermann, Krones AG, Neutraubling, Germany, Prof. Fritz Jacob, Dr. Mathias Hutzler, TU Munich, Research Centre Weihenstephan for Brewing and Food Quality, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany, and Alirio Caldera MSc, Polar Brewery C.A., Caracas, Venezuela, for research: “Characterization of Different Bottom Fermenting Saccharomyces pastorianus Brewing Yeast Strains“ (BrewingScience, vol. 68 (March/April 2015), pp.46-57).

Symrise AG is adding two members to its Executive Board in response to the dynamic development of its business. Effective as of October 1, 2016, the Supervisory Board has appointed Heinrich Schaper (60) and Dr. Jean-Yves Parisot (52) to the Executive Board. The two new members will be initially appointed for a three-year period and will be responsible for business operations in the Flavor & Nutrition segment: Heinrich Schaper will serve as the Head of the Flavors division and Jean-Yves Parisot as the Head of the Diana (Nutrition) division.

Leading food and drink research company Campden BRI has appointed Dr. Richard Akkermans to head its Technology Division. Richard will be responsible for driving the development of research and services across the division and working with members of Campden BRI’s senior leadership team to develop and implement the company strategy.

Fachverlag Hans Carl, Nuremberg, Germany, is pleased to announce two new peer reviewers for its scientific publication BrewingScience: Dr. Tatiana Praet, KU Leuven Technology Campus Ghent, Ghent, Belgium, and Dr. Frithjof Thiele, Radeberger Gruppe KG, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

On 31 August 2016 Dr. Andreas Ludwig ended his term as Head of Quality at the Radeberger Group. His position will be taken over by Madeleine Adolf, a state-certified food chemist who has been working for Radeberger for over six years.