The Institute of Brewing and Distilling has announced that Dr. Jerry Avis has been appointed as its new CEO. He will take over from Simon Jackson who will retire in November 2015. Jerry will take up his new role in Curlew Street on 2 November.

Every two years, they come together for several days: the members of the International Hop Growers’ Convention (IHGC). Following a 19-year break, more than 140 delegates from 13 nations met in Bad Gögging in the hop growing region Hallertau from July 26 to 31 2015 to exchange ideas and make contacts. An extensive four-day program not only a offered an opportunity to learn about the work of the IHGC, but also included tours of hop farms and hop processing plants.

In March 2015, Krones, a manufacturer of beverage filling and packaging technology and a member of Germany’s MDAX stock index, reported that changes were afoot within its Executive Board. At the time, due to an agreement with the incoming CFO’s current employer, Krones was not at liberty to disclose the name of the successor to CFO Christoph Klenk, who had been appointed to take over the helm as Chairman of the Executive Board effective 1 January 2016.

Beverage Can Makers Europe (BCME), the trade body representing Europe’s leading drinks can manufacturers, have appointed Ellen Wauters as General Manager, effective from April 1st 2015.

Adam Dulye has been named Executive Chef of the Brewers Association (BA), the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American craft brewers, and CraftBeer.com, the BA website for beer lovers. Dulye will use his culinary background to promote the value and compatibility of craft beer and cuisine. He will also continue to provide the culinary vision for BA events including SAVOR℠: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, the Farm to Table Pavilion at the Great American Beer Festival®, the World Beer Cup® dinners and write for his craft beer chef centric blog on CraftBeer.com entitled “Craft Beer with Chef Adam.” He has been working with the BA for seven years.

Volker Kronseder, Chairman of the Executive Board of Krones AG, has decided not to renew his contract, which expires on 31 December 2015. This is in keeping with the company’s internal rules. Mr. Kronseder has informed the Supervisory Board of Krones AG of his decision.

Smart Skin Technologies announced the appointment of Andreas Liebl as a partner for key account customers. Mr. Liebl has more than 25 years experience in the industry and held several senior positions in the brewing, malting, flavour and machinery industries in Europe and Africa.

The Research Institute for Special Analyses (FIS) of the VLB Berlin is headed by Dr. Nils Rettberg since 1 January 2015. In this function, he succeeds Prof. Dr. Leif Alexander Garbe, who has accepted a position as professor at the Neubrandenburg University of Applied Science last year.

The Brewers of Europe’s General Assembly has unanimously re-elected Spanish brewer Demetrio Carceller to represent the European association that federates 29 national brewers associations across Europe. The EU has over 5500 breweries, which together brew 38 billion litres of beer annually. In Spain, the EU’s fourth largest beer market, beer represents 1.4% of national GDP.

Carlsberg Group announces that Dr Isaac Sheps, CEO of Baltika Breweries and Senior Vice President for Carlsberg Group’s Eastern Europe Region, has decided to step down from Carlsberg’s Executive Committee. He is succeeded by Jacek Pastuszka, currently CEO of Ringnes, Norway. The changes will take effect from January 1, 2015. In December Dr Sheps will be handing over the business and during 2015 he will continue working in the Carlsberg Group as Senior Executive Advisor to the Carlsberg Group’s CEO and ExCom.

At its constituent meeting following the General Assembly on 29 September 2014, the Administrative Board of the Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin (VLB) [EV] has elected Dr. Mike Eberle as its new chairman. The term of office is four years. Eberle takes over from the previous VLB President Dr. Axel Th. Simon, Bitburg, who held this tenure from 1989 to 2014.

At the General Assembly of the VLB Berlin on 29 September 2014 in Berlin, Dr. Axel Th. Simon resigned as Chairman of the Administrative Board of the VLB. In recognition of his outstanding commitment, he was appointed Honorary President of the VLB Berlin.

The fourth edition of the South Beer Cup was held from May 21st to May 24th in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in conjunction with the exhibition Brazil Bier and Expo Cachaça.

James Mouton becomes NürnbergMesse North America’s new managing director on 1st July 2014. As an acknowledged exhibition expert, Mouton will be controlling the service portfolio of NürnbergMesse North America from Atlanta in future, allowing the company to benefit from his experience in this area.