Vice President, Global Innovation - North American Whiskey

Job Title: Vice President, Global Innovation – North American Whisky

Level: L3

Location: New York

Reports To: SVP Global Whisky Category Innovation

Direct Reports

• Innovation Director – North American Whisky
• Senior Innovation Manager – North American Whisky

Purpose of the Role

North American Whisky represents one of Diageo's largest and most strategically important future growth opportunities. The category is entering a period of structural change, with changing consumer expectations, increasing competitive intensity, excess industry inventory and evolving routes to growth. Future success will increasingly depend on recruiting new consumers, unlocking new occasions, expanding the value ladder and strengthening trademark equity through disciplined, scalable innovation.

The Vice President, Global Innovation – North American Whisky is accountable for shaping that future.

As the innovation leader for Crown Royal, Bulleit and the wider North American Whisky portfolio, the role defines where the category will grow over the next decade and builds the innovation platforms that will deliver it. Acting as the steward of the future growth agenda, the role ensures innovation is fully integrated into trademark strategy, commercial priorities and long-term portfolio development.

Working across Brand, Commercial, R&D, Supply, Procurement and Markets, the role combines strategic category leadership with world-class innovation execution to create scalable growth platforms that strengthen trademark equity, recruit new consumers, unlock new occasions, expand the value ladder and maximize the value of Diageo's North American Whisky assets.

This role is responsible not simply for delivering innovation, but for ensuring innovation becomes a strategic competitive advantage that accelerates trademark growth, category leadership and long-term shareholder value.

Context

North American Whisky sits at the center of Diageo's global whisky growth ambition. The portfolio contains some of Diageo's largest trademarks, most valuable whisky inventories and significant long-term growth opportunities.

The category is undergoing structural change. Growth is becoming increasingly concentrated around stronger trademarks, distinctive consumer propositions, premiumization, flavour recruitment, convenience and new occasions, while industry oversupply is driving greater competitive intensity and pricing pressure.

Success requires balancing today's commercial priorities with tomorrow's growth platforms. Innovation must therefore operate as a strategic business capability; strengthening trademarks, restoring recruitment, unlocking new occasions, expanding participation across accessible, premium and luxury price tiers, and maximizing returns from Diageo's North American Whisky assets.

Leadership Expectations

• Shape the future growth agenda for North American Whisky by identifying where Diageo should compete and where innovation will create sustainable competitive advantage.
• Champion trademark-first innovation, ensuring innovation strengthens the total brand rather than creating fragmented product activity.
• Make disciplined portfolio choices, concentrating investment behind fewer, bigger, scalable growth platforms with the greatest long-term value creation potential.
• Align Brand, Commercial, Supply, R&D and Markets behind a single future growth agenda and integrated innovation roadmap.
• Represent North American Whisky innovation in executive governance forums and build world-class innovation capability across the organization.

Key Accountabilities

• Shape the Future Growth Agenda - Define the long-term NAW category innovation strategy, identifying future growth platforms rooted in consumer, cultural, customer and commercial insight.
• Drive Trademark Transformation – Lead the long-term transformation of Diageo's North American Whisky trademarks by ensuring innovation is fully integrated into brand strategy, commercial execution and portfolio architecture, building unified, trademark-led growth platforms that strengthen core equity, restore consumer recruitment and drive sustainable trademark growth while defining the strategic role of core, flavours, RTDs, premiumization and luxury across the portfolio.
• Build the Future Growth Innovation Portfolio - Own the multi-year future growth innovation portfolio across Crown Royal, Bulleit and the wider North American Whisky portfolio. Build a balanced innovation pipeline spanning recruitment, flavours, RTDs, formats, premiumization, luxury collections and breakthrough innovation while making disciplined investment decisions that prioritise fewer, bigger, trademark-building platforms over fragmented innovation activity.
• Influence and Align Business Behind Agenda - Shape the businesses long-term NAW category innovation priorities, multi-year portfolio investment, innovation governance, and business capability development needed to deliver the strategy.
• Lead Pipeline Delivery – Provide end-to-end leadership from strategy through consumer validation, development, commercialization and launch, ensuring every innovation programme delivers both trademark growth and commercial performance.

Success Measures

• Sustainable North American Whisky category growth.
• Disproportionate share growth across priority value pools.
• Recruitment and re-recruitment of consumers into North American Whisky.
• Sustainable NSV, Gross Margin and CAAP growth from innovation.
• Growth in trademark Meaning, Distinctiveness and Salience.
• Increased Mental Availability and consumer consideration for Crown Royal and Bulleit.
• Balanced growth across Crown TM - Deluxe, Flavours, RTDs, Premium and Luxury portfolios.
• Innovation return on investment and long-term pipeline health.
• Development of world-class innovation capability and organizational effectiveness.

Leadership Capabilities

• Strategic Growth Leadership - Shapes the long-term growth agenda by anticipating future consumer, customer and category shifts, making bold choices that create sustainable competitive advantage.
• Future Growth Mindset - Looks beyond today's business to identify emerging opportunities, balancing near-term delivery with long-term value creation and future category leadership.
• Strategic Portfolio Leadership - Builds and optimizes a focused portfolio of innovation platforms, making disciplined investment decisions that maximise growth, impact and return.
• Commercial Courage - Challenges conventional thinking, makes bold decisions with conviction and balances creativity with commercial rigor to unlock new sources of growth.
• Executive Influence - Builds alignment across senior stakeholders, inspires high-performing teams and influences strategic decisions to accelerate category growth and organizational impact.

• Executive leadership experience in innovation, marketing, strategy or category leadership within global FMCG.
• Track record defining long-term growth strategies and scalable innovation platforms.
• Strong commercial, financial and consumer insight capability.
• Experience leading cross-functional global organizations and influencing executive stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success developing high-performing teams and organizational capability.