International Beverage announces two senior appointments

New Distilleries General Manager and Marketing Director confirmed

International Beverage has today announced the appointment of two senior leaders during a period of ambitious growth for the company. The seasoned duo will take up strategic roles in the global spirit producer’s team, to drive the success of the company’s expanding portfolio of award-winning brands.

John Stevenson joins as Distilleries General Manager

An accomplished Projects Director and Executive, John has a long track record of building and developing teams in the delivery of complex programmes. He led the design and build of Ireland’s first major whisky distillery in 100 years and Scotland’s first waste to fuel ABE biorefinery using whisky industry co-products. With an MBA in Engineering Management from the University of Bristol, John began his career in the water industry and migrated into the whisky industry in 1996. Recently, John has undertaken a number of diverse roles, firstly as a Project Director in the bio-fuel sector at Celtic Renewables. After a four-year tenure, he then became a Freelance Projects Director at 58 Seasgad Limited, supporting bio-tech start-ups to scale-up novel technologies before moving to North British Distillery Limited as an Operations Manager in 2023. Whilst there he led the development of a robust five-year capital investment plan and provided solutions across technical support, training and architecture. 

His remit at International Beverage is to oversee operations at the company’s five Scottish distilleries, which produce Old Pulteney, Speyburn, Balblair and anCnoc single malt whiskies, Hankey Bannister blended whisky and Caorunn Gin.

Fiona Kennie joins as Marketing Director

A graduate of Strathclyde University, Fiona began her career in 2001 at Jim Beam. She progressed in a number of senior marketing roles, making her mark at Whyte & Mackay, Heineken, and Edrington. Fiona brings 25 years of brand building experience spanning the drinks industry, with particular skills in premium & luxury whisky. She has driven strategic growth for global brands across domestic, international and global travel retail. Fiona returns to the world of spirits following her most recent role as Group Marketing Director in the craft beer industry. She brings a passion for building brands and a strong leadership skillset to International Beverage as it embarks on its brand growth journey. She will lead strategic marketing for the global spirits business and join its Executive Leadership Team.

Both John and Fiona will be based at the company’s Airdrie headquarters, reporting into International Beverage Managing Director Malcolm Leask. He commented:

“We are delighted to welcome both John and Fiona to the business. Their leadership skills and vast experience in their respective sectors makes them a tremendous asset to our team. I look forward to working with them over the coming months on a variety of initiatives that will grow our global business, sustainability credentials and portfolio of premium spirit brands.”

As the spirits arm of one of the world’s top ten drinks producers ThaiBev, International Beverage is responsible for the global sales, marketing and distribution of a multi-award-winning portfolio of premium brands, including single malt Scotch whiskies Old Pulteney, Speyburn, Balblair, and anCnoc; the blended Scotch Hankey Bannister; the Larsen portfolio of Cognacs; New Zealand’s Cardrona Distillery spirits; and Caorunn, the small-batch Scottish gin.