Franck Marilly, CEO of Rémy Cointreau, said: “After three years marked by a complex environment, it is time for Rémy Cointreau to stand out within its industry. The group has the privilege of relying on an exceptional portfolio of brands and on talented and committed teams.

“RC Forward Plan aims to give us the means to generate our own value creation momentum and thus become less dependent on macroeconomic cycles. It also seeks to strengthen the entrepreneurial and conquering mindset of our teams, building on the Group's culture while instilling greater discipline, rigor and performance focus. Our ambition is clear: to sustainably improve profitability in order to generate additional resources to reinvest in growth.”

To achieve this objective, the company has set out the following five aims:

• Strengthen the efficiency of the distribution network: refine route-to-market strategies in order to expand reach and capture untapped growth opportunities
• Increase value creation through enhanced Revenue Growth Management: refine the approach to product, pricing, formats and promotions in order to optimize value generation across all channels
• Maximize the impact of A&P investments: better allocate resources across brands, optimize the media mix and focus every investment where it generates the greatest desirability and value
• Optimize procurement: structure a global approach to direct and indirect spend in order to unlock additional resources in support of growth
• Simplify to accelerate execution: evolve the organization, clarify responsibilities, streamline decision-making processes, strengthen the performance culture and unlock teams’ energy

The group is establishing a ‘steering committee’ within the executive committee, including:

• Luca Marotta as deputy chief executive officer while continuing to oversee finance, IT and legal
• Ian McLernon is appointed chief markets officer and will oversee all regions, including a new emerging markets area created to strengthen the development of these high-potential markets
• Mélanie Bulourde and Clarisse Petit hold the respective roles of chief operations & CSR officer and chief human resources officer
• A chief brands officer will be appointed at a later stage; in the interim, Franck Marilly will assume responsibility for this function

The executive committee is also expanded with the creation of a new ‘prestige division’ overseeing brands Louis XIII, Telmont and Maison Psyché, and a chief transformation officer (CTO) role for the duration of the transformation plan.

The executive committee is therefore composed of the ‘steering committee’ and eight members:

• Amaury Vinclet is appointed general manager of Rémy Martin
• Elisabeth Tona continues as chief executive officer of the liqueurs & spirits division
• Douglas Taylor is chief executive officer of the whisky & gin division
• Ludovic du Plessis assumes responsibility for the prestige division and joins the executive committee
• Christophe de Pous was recently appointed chief executive officer of North America
• Sophie Phe continues as chief executive officer of China
• Carina Alfonso Martin continues as chief communications & public affairs officer
• Célia d’Everlange continues to lead financial communications and is appointed chief transformation officer. She joins the executive committee for the duration of the transformation plan

Finally, two cross-functional roles, reporting to the chief executive officer, are created in order to foster innovation and improve certain practices:

• Douglas Taylor oversees the ‘Innovation Lab’. This laboratory will play a major role in exploring and analysing consumption trends and new growth opportunities, with a purely end-consumer-oriented approach
• Sophie Phe assumes responsibility for the ‘Executive Lab’, notably dedicated to accelerating execution speed and the implementation of certain transformation initiatives across the group's activities