MANAGEMENT
Chris Heath, ACMA
Chief Executive Officer
Chris joined Stock Spirits Group in 2007. In October 2009, Chris was appointed Chief Executive Officer following a successful period as Chief Financial Officer.
He was previously Group CFO and Commercial Director of Gondola Holdings plc, owner of Pizza Express, ASK and Zizzi restaurants.
From 1988 to 2005, he held a number of senior positions in Allied Domecq. Starting as Chief Accountant of Ind Coope Ltd in 1988 before being promoted to Finance Director of Ind Coope Retail in 1990 and then Finance, Property & Leasing Director of the same company in 1993.
In 1995 Chris moved into the spirits division of Allied Domecq as Finance Director of the European Region. He held the positions of Managing Director, UK and then Managing Director, Spain respectively from 1999 to 2003. Chris then became Global Finance Director of Allied Domecq plc until 2005.
Richard Guest
Chief Financial Officer
Richard joined Stock Spirits Group in January 2010 as Chief Financial Officer.
Richard has over 20 years of experience in senior finance roles. He has strong transactional experience and spent over 12 years during his career in finance positions within Diageo plc, latterly as Director of Planning & Analysis before leaving in 2000.
Since then, Richard worked in private equity companies, overseeing several restructuring projects and M&A transactions. Most recently he was CFO for Picsel Technology, a private equity backed international technology firm, for whom he led an IPO through to the final stage for LSE flotation.
Ian Croxford
Group Operations Director
Ian joined Stock Spirits Group in December 2007.
He has worked in the industry since 1996, when he joined United Distillers & Vintners (a subsidiary of Diageo PLC) as Packaging Director, Global Operations and Operations Director, Packaging, UK Operations.
In 1999, he joined John Dewar & Sons Ltd (the whisky division of Bacardi Ltd) as Managing Director and, from there, moved to Banshee Spirits Ltd, an independent start-up business, as Managing Director. He was most recently CEO of Inter Link Foods Ltd.
Tony Roberts
Managing Director, International
Tony joined Stock in 2007 and has worked in the drinks industry since 1983, gaining extensive sales and marketing experience from a number of senior roles in the key regions of the world.
He began with Remy-Cointreau and in 1997, moved to William Grant where he worked in Miami before returning to the UK to manage Developing Markets.
In 2005 he joined Whyte & Mackay as International Commercial Director and was responsible for the company’s exports to all markets outside the UK.
Elisa Gomez De Bonilla
General Counsel
Elisa joined the company in 2008 and is responsible for all aspects of legal support and advice across the group.
She has a wide breadth of experience in the alcoholic drinks industry, gathered from working in Europe and beyond.
Elisa joins from Beam Global where she was General Counsel for Europe. Prior to this, she worked at Allied Domecq, as a Senior Legal Advisor to the European Legal Team.
Jack Keenan
Non-Executive Chairman
Jack joined Stock Spirits Group as Non-Executive Chairman in 2008. He brings an enormous amount of experience and expertise developed through an extraordinary career in the most senior roles within a variety of international food and drinks businesses.
After retiring as Chairman of Kraft International in early 1996, he joined the board of Grand Metropolitan PLC., becoming CEO of their global wine and spirits business. There he led the consolidation of global drinks by merging the businesses of Grand Met and Guinness in 1997 (to form Diageo) and leading the acquisition of Seagrams.
Separately, Jack has served on the boards of Diageo and Moet Hennessy as an executive director, and as a non-executive on Body Shop International, General Mills Inc, Marks & Spencer and Tomkins.
Jack received his MBA from Harvard Business School and is now the Patron of the Centre for International Business and Management and chairman of the Harry Hansen Research Fellowship Trust at Cambridge University.
Claudio Riva
Managing Director, Italy
Claudio joined Stock Spirits Group in March 2008 to head up the company’s Italian operation.
Claudio has more than 20 years experience in the alcoholic drinks and fmcg market, much of which was gained from senior roles in leading companies, including Carlsberg Italia where he was Managing Director, Allied Domecq, Nestlé’s Buitoni, Parmalat Spa, and Del Monte Sud Europa.
Francisco Tonarely
Managing Director, USA
President & CEO, Stock Spirits Group USA, Inc.
Francisco became Managing Director for the USA, President and CEO of the Group’s American subsidiary, Stock Spirits Group USA, Inc., in 2009. With over 15 years experience in the beverage industry, Francisco has been responsible for implementing high profile marketing campaigns for a number of household brands, including Pepsi-Cola International, Bacardi and Seagram.
In 1996, Francisco helped launch Brand Equity, a boutique marketing consultancy designed to provide strategic marketing insight and management to expertise for the US market. Clients included The Puerto Rican Government’s Rums of Puerto Rico and Tequila Siete Leguas, which he was responsible for launching in the US market after negotiating the successful recovery of it core brand assets and trademark.
Marek Malinowski
Country Head, Poland
Marek came to Stock Spirits Group in 2007 when Polmos Lublin joined the group. He had been Chairman of the Management Board at the company since 2005 and General Director from 2001 to 2004.
From 2000 he worked at Jablonna SA, where he was responsible for investment and the acquisition of Polmos Lublin. Prior to this he was General Director of the Distribution Service company, handling mass market promotion, and General Director at HBC Ltd (the distribution branch of the Elbrewery Group).
Marek has more than 16 years’ experience in the FMCG sector.
Petr Pavlík
Managing Director, Czech Republic
Petr Pavlík joined Stock Spirits Group in September 2009 to head up the company's operations in Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Petr graduated from the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno. During his professional career he worked for Procter and Gamble (P&G) in various sales roles. Petr's last assignment in P&G was as Country Manager - Czech Republic. In 2004, he moved to Boots Healthcare International as General Manager with responsibility for the region of Central Europe, Turkey and Greece. After the acquisition of Boots Healthcare International, he worked for Reckitt Benckiser: firstly from 2006 as General Manager Belgium and Luxembourg based in Brussels, and, then until August 2009, as Global Category Director at Reckitt Benckiser's London European headquarters.
