After more than eight years at the helm of leading beverage company Lion, Stuart Irvine has decided to step down as CEO.

Stuart Irvine

The leadership change follows the successful delivery of a transformation program to refocus Lion on its core adult beverages businesses, establish a flexible and agile technology platform and diversify into craft beer and spirits adjacencies as a foundation for new growth.

After successfully completing the sale of Lion Dairy & Drinks in early 2021, the company is entering a new mid-term planning cycle and Mr Irvine believes now is the right time to start the process for a transition to a new leader who will deliver the company’s strategy.

Lion Chairman Sir Rod Eddington said: “On behalf of Kirin and the Lion Board I’d like to thank Stuart for his leadership through what has been a time of unprecedented change across the food and beverage sectors.

“During Stuart’s tenure, Lion has become a re-focused adult beverages business and expanded its footprint in craft beer and spirits in both Australia and overseas. Lion’s international business is already delivering encouraging growth with recent results from the United States especially positive given the challenges of COVID-19.

“Stuart’s commitment to sustainable business saw Lion become Australasia’s first large scale carbon neutral brewer, identify and close its gender pay gap and drive gender diversity by setting ambitious all-of-company gender targets and putting in place concrete strategies to achieve them.”

Stuart Irvine said: “After eight years, now is the right time for me to hand the baton to a new leader. I’m proud of the Lion I will leave behind – a focused business well placed for growth at home and abroad. It is a business focused on the consumer, with the foundation of new data and technology capability and purpose at the heart
of its decision-making.

“I feel very privileged to be a part of Lion’s story and have the opportunity to lead such a dedicated and passionate team of people. I am committed to setting Lion up for this next chapter by ensuring a smooth transition and working with my leadership team to deliver our growth plans for 2021.”

The Lion Board has commenced a global executive search to identify a successor and a further announcement will be made on a new CEO appointment in due course.

This process will take several months to complete, with the transition timing to be determined towards the end of the year based on the successful candidate. In the meantime, Mr Irvine will continue to lead the business.