John Williams is Global Scotch Director at Diageo, the worlds largest premium drinks company and home to brands such as Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Guinness, Tanqueray and Baileys. As Global Scotch Director he manages Diageo’s largest category with the broadest geographical footprint, including category leader Johnnie Walker, as well as J&B, Bells, Buchanan’s, Old Parr, Black & White. He is responsible for growing the category and brands ahead of international spirits by accelerating recruitment and premiumisation.
With almost 20 years at Diageo, John has previously led the Johnnie Walker brand globally, delivering a global transformation strategy which has seen the creation and execution of new growth across communications, serve and innovation.
John has a tremendous track record of creating strategic breakthroughs that lead to strong business results and team performance. His achievements include leading Africa Innovation as a significant growth driver to the region, including the development and launch of the Orijin Bitters brand.
In his time leading Marketing & Innovation for the East African Breweries Limited (EABL) the team drove strong market share gains and supercharged the mainstream spirits category led by Kenya Cane and the launch of Chrome Vodka.
Heading up the beer category for Europe, John identified significant growth opportunities for the category which helped to re-ignite the growth of Guinness in Great Britain and saw the launch of Rockshore beer. Before Diageo John worked at S C Johnson in the UK and Wella in Darmstadt Germany.
Born and raised in Newcastle-upon-Tyne he studied and graduated from ESB Reutlingen with a First Class Diplom-Betriebswirt and B.A. (Hons) European Business.
