DIAGEO Chief Executive Ivan Menezes has received knighthood for his services to business and to equality in the 2023 New Year Honours List.
Born in Pune, India, Menezes has been leading Diageo, one the world’s largest alcoholic beverage companies, with sales in more than 180 countries and a portfolio of over 200 brands, from July 2013 as chief executive.
He is one of Britain’s longest serving FTSE chief executives and credited for transforming Diageo into the world’s leading premium drinks company, accounting for 10 per cent (£2 billion) of the UK’s total food and drinks exports.
Under his leadership, the company has also made great strides in its sustainability and responsibility initiatives.
By 2020, 39 per cent of leadership positions at Diageo were held by women, exceeding the 35 per cent target set by the company. Besides, their community programmes enable those who live and work in their communities, particularly women, to have the skills and resources to build a better future for themselves. At the end of 2020, the company has reached 6,600 people through skills and empowerment programmes and 250,000 people through community water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes.
Diageo, purveyor of brands like Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, Baileys liqueur, Captain Morgan rum and Tanqueray and Gordon's gin, is now following it up ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’ – a 10-year action plan to help create a more inclusive and sustainable world.
The strategic priorities are to promote positive drinking, champion inclusion and diversity and pioneer grain-to-glass sustainability, with 25 ambitious targets aligned to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The targets include achieving 50 per cent representation of women in leadership roles and increasing representation of leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds to 45 per cent by 2030, among others. According to the Honours List citation, the company has already reached 42 per cent in women’s representation in senior leadership positions globally, while ethnically diverse leaders stood at 37 per cent, as the company is once again racing towards its targets.
It’s no wonder then that Menezes dedicated his knighthood to his colleagues.
“I am incredibly honoured to receive this award on behalf of my 28,000 colleagues in Diageo. Their creativity, passion and drive has enabled Diageo, a British company, to become a truly global leader, making a positive contribution to the communities we serve,” he said.
“Everyone at Diageo is committed to shaping a more sustainable and inclusive business and society, and I am very proud to accept this honour in recognition of what has been achieved so far.”
Diageo is one of the world’s leading companies on sustainability, receiving a Double A rating for Water Security and Climate Change and is committed to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030. One of the focus areas of the company’s sustainability initiative is water conservation, with a target of 40 per cent improvement in water use efficiency in water stressed areas and 30 per cent improvement across the company. The company has also pledged to replenish more water than they use for operations for all sites in water-stressed areas by 2026.
Recently, Menezes warned that Scotland could face a water shortage due to climate change unless businesses and lawmakers act. The threat in Scotland, where Diageo is the biggest exporter of Scotch whisky, depends on how successful the world is at averting climate change and hitting a 1.5-degree Celsius limit on global warming, he told a Reuters Impact conference in October.
“There are scenarios where we could see water being stressed in Scotland,” Menezes cautioned.
Menezes said that part of his compensation is tied to Diageo hitting specific environmental goals including on water conservation. Diageo sees water conservation and environmental efforts as “really core to the long-term health of the business,” he added.
“We’re a consumer business so it will translate into consumer preference over time,” Menezes said. “We have a strong conviction about that.”
Menezes is a Diageo veteran, having joined the business in 1997, when the company was formed from the merger of Guinness plc and Grand Metropolitan, a conglomerate. Along with his predecessor Paul Walsh, he was part of the team in charge of integrating the businesses. He held various senior management positions with Guinness and then Diageo until 2004 when he was appointed president of Diageo Venture Markets.
Prior to his appointment as chief operating officer in March 2012, he was president and chief executive of Diageo North America for eight years. During this period he was also made chairman, Asia Pacific from October 2008 and chairman, Latin America & the Caribbean from July 2011.
Before joining Diageo, Menezes worked across a variety of sales, marketing and strategy roles for Whirlpool in Europe, Booz Allen & Hamilton in North America, and Nestlé in Asia.
In addition to Diageo’s ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) activities, Menezes takes active interest in several community-focussed initiatives. He was chairman of Movement to Work, a voluntary collaboration of employers committed to tackling youth unemployment, from 2017 to 2020, delivering 100,000 structured work placements for young people, with over 55 per cent of participants securing permanent jobs. He continues to serve the organisation as a trustee.
He is also involved with the British Asian Trust’s Founders Circle, which brings together leaders from the British Asian community, building the influence of the diaspora to support positive change in South Asia.
The 63-year-old is an important voice in the drinks industry, serving as the chairman of the council of Scotch Whisky Association and member of the CEO Group of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking, a global not-for-profit organisation dedicated to addressing harmful drinking and promoting responsible drinking. In November 2020, he announced £1bn of investment in sustainability and community initiatives and to tackle alcohol related harm. During the pandemic, he produced more than 10 million bottles of hand sanitiser for healthcare workers around the world, including the NHS.
He sits on the Global Advisory Board of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, his alma mater in the US. Menezes holds an MBA from the prestigious school, along with a post-graduate degree from India’s premier business school, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
His father, Manuel Menezes, is a former chairman of India’s Railways Board, while his elder brother Victor is the former senior vice-chairman of investment bank Citigroup. His other sibling Michael serves as the chief financial officer, technology and operations group, at Canada’s Bank of Montreal.
Menezes is married with two children.
