Ivan Manuel Menezes
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A brief biography
Reeba Zachariah, June 8, 2023: The Times of India
From: Reeba Zachariah, June 8, 2023: The Times of India
India-born, British-American national Ivan Manuel Menezes as Diageo’s top executive led the acquisition of United Spirits from Vijay Mallya.
Menezes became CEO of the world’s biggest spirits company in July 2013. Menezes was also due to retire from the London-listed multinational — the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky, Tanqueray gin and Don Julio tequila — at the end of this month.
“This is an incredibly sad day. Ivan was undoubtedly one of the finest leaders of his generation,” said Diageo chairman Javier Ferran. Born in Pune and educated at St Stephen’s college in Delhi and IIMAhmedabad, Menezes joined Diageo in 1997 following its creation through the merger of Guinness, owner of Johnnie Walker scotch, and Grand Metropolitan, maker of J&B whisky. His brother Victor Menezes is a former Citibank chairman & CEO, and father Manuel Menezes was the chairman of Railway Board.
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who studied with Menezes in Delhi, expressed shock at his demise. “Shocked and numbed to hear the passing of Ivan Menezes, my classmate at Columba’s and Stephen’s. A more gentle laid back and easy going soul would be difficult to find. I used to joke with him as to how with these traits he could head a multinational like Diageo, which he so ably did,” tweeted Singhvi.
Had it not been for Menezes’ “quiet determination”, Diageo would have found it difficult to buy United Spirits, India’s largest spirit-maker, from Mallya. Diageo had pursued Mallya multiple times for a deal (before the two shook hands in 2013) but the latter had refused to cede control of United Spirits. “Menezes may be soft but he was a determined person,” said a liquor industry veteran. “Diageo has evicted Mallya’s legacy from United Spirits,” he added. “It has also rebuilt the Indian subsidiary and has made it more dynamic by pruning commodity brands from its portfolio. ”
“Ivan was rare in combining phenomenal corporate success without ego or vanity, and combining conventional achievement with being a devoted family man, and caring and generous to scores of friends and acquaintances,” Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic adviser to the Indian government, told Reuters. Subramanian and Menezes were contemporaries at IIM-Ahmedabad. JM Financial Group chairman Nimesh Kampani said: “Ivan Menezes was a good man, very straightforward. I was regularly in touch with him during the United Spirits acquisition by Diageo. He was humble and down to earth. He was a people’s person who got along with everyone in the organisation. ”
Menezes also took efforts to do the right thing. “Leaders today talk about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) because it’s necessary. Ivan Menezes has been implementing it for years because he wanted to do it,” said a former Diageo executive who had worked with Menezes.
Today, more than half of Diageo’s executive committee of 15 members consists of women, including Menezes’ successor, the CFO and the presidents of the company’s largest markets — North America, Europe and India. In 2013, when Menezes took charge, there were just two women on Diageo’s executive committee.
The company had announced Debra Crew as interim CEO, weeks before Menezes’ planned retirement at the end of June. Menezes was one of Britain’s longest serving FTSE CEOs. Diageo’s market capitalisation almost doubled to 75 billion pounds from 42 billion pounds under the leadership of Menezes, who was behind the ‘Keep Walking’ campaign for Johnnie Walker when he was marketing head.
“His passion for our brands was second-to-none and in his heart, he remained the Johnnie Walker marketer from his early days. The desire to build the world’s best brands never left him,” said Ferran.
