Roust Corporation appoints Scott Oliver as CEO of Roust Americas
Roust Corporation, the largest integrated spirits producer and distributor in Central and Eastern Europe and the second-largest vodka producer in the world, announces today the appointment of Scott Oliver as CEO of Roust Americas.
Scott has more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the beverage alcohol industry. Having started his career with Treasury Wine Estates in Australia, he moved quickly through the ranks having held several managerial sales and marketing roles in Australia before assuming the position of Export Director South Pacific. He relocated with the company to Vancouver in 2001 where he set up and ran the very successful TWE operation in Canada. Scott then joined Select Wines and Spirits as COO helping fuel growth for the Rémy Cointreau and Concha y Toro portfolios before setting up and managing the Roust business in Canada.
In his new position, Scott will report directly to Pavel Merkul, CEO of Roust Corporation, and be responsible for all aspects of the company’s consolidated business throughout the Americas, which is a priority for the Group. Scott will carry out strategic planning and operational management of the company, including sales, marketing, finance, HR, production, supply and legal support of the business.
Pavel Merkul, CEO of Roust Corporation, comments: “Since 2013, when Scott joined Roust, he has acquired a deep understanding of our wide range of quality brands and shown consistent high performance. The internal talent promotion is a key part of our company strategy, and I’m glad to offer Scott this new challenge inside the organization.”
Scott Oliver expresses his enthusiasm: “I am extremely excited to take on the role of CEO Americas. We are very fortunate to have three truly Iconic brands in Russian Standard Vodka, Żubrówka and Gancia. All of which are dominant and beloved brands in their respective home markets. We have the opportunity to elevate awareness, distribution and sales velocity for these brands throughout the Americas and intend to do so through further strengthening our distributor and customer relationships. We have an active and quality team in place in both the USA and Canada that can be further leveraged for success. Central and South American markets, the Caribbean, Travel Retail and Cruise line business has not been a high priority historically for us and we are looking at opportunities to expand our interests there as well. Apart from bringing a laser focus to our core iconic brands we will also look to strengthen our market position across the region with complimentary and innovative portfolio additions with high consumer demand.”
Roust Americas business is growing 24% YTD through June. The Americas business alone between US and Canada has grown near 37% in terms of net revenue as a result of the Russian Standard portfolio of brands growing 36%. A major part of this is the flagship brand, Russian Standard Original growing 25% and the strong launches of the Russian Standard Moscow Mule Ready to Drink, Russian Standard Gold 1.75L introduction in the USA and Gancia starting to make inroads into the growing sparkling wine category.