New MillerCoors Names England CMO, Taps Other Execs

New MillerCoors Names England CMO, Taps Other Execs

SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing have given further details about the executive lineup for their newly partnered brewery holdings, five days after the U.S. Department of Justice Okayed the joint venture.

Andy England will become chief marketing officer for the new company, to be named MillerCoors and set to launch just after the transaction closes on July 1.

England has been the chief marketing officer at Coors Brewing Co. since January 2006. Prior to that, he served as vice president and general manager of snacks at Hershey Foods and before that as category vice president of the Dr. Pepper/7Up unit at Cadbury Schweppes.

England will report to Tom Long, current CEO of Miller Brewing Co., who will become president and chief commercial officer of the new entity, as previously announced. Current Molson Coors CEO Leo Kiely will take on that post at MillerCoors.

In addition to naming England, the soon-to-ally companies announced that Daniel Puffer will be chief operating officer for MillerCoors. Tom Cardella will become president of the new company’s eastern division and Ed McBrien will head the western division.

All told, the leadership for the new company contains seven executives from Miller and seven from Coors. Kiely said in a news conference announcing the lineup that the even split was intentional.

“We had an eye on balance,” he said.

Both SABMiller and Molson Coors will have equal voting rights in the new venture, although Miller will have a 58% economic stake in MillerCoors.

After having their joint venture cleared by the Justice Department on June 5, the companies said in a release that they expect the combined operation to lead to cost savings of $500 million annually by its third year.