Manzoni set to become Diageo’s new chairman

former head of the civil service is to chair Scotland’s largest whisky producer.

Sir John Manzoni, who was chief executive of the civil service from 2014 to 2020, will become chairman of Johnnie Walker-maker Diageo in early February when current chair Javier Ferrán retires from the board.

Manzoni is currently chaira man of Perth-headquartered energy giant SSE and was previously a non-executive director of brewing major Sabmiller for 11 years, from 2004 to 2015. Earlier in his career, he served as president and chief executive of Talisman Energy, and held a number of senior executive roles at BP.

Manzoni, who joined the Diageo board in October 2020, said: “It will be a privilege to take on this role and to succeed Javier, whose leadership and acumen have been so valuable to our business and to board colleagues. Diageo has an unrivalled portfolio, a global footprint and worldleading capabilities.”

Diageo — the world’s largest spirits maker — has some 30 malt distilleries in Scotland and around 3,500 employees out of a global workforce of around 30,000. It owns major global brands such as Guinness stout, Smirnoff vodka and Captain Morgan rum.

Chief executive Debra Crew said: “Javier has been an invaluable source of strategic counsel and advice for me and our wider leadership team, and I want to thank him.

“I look forward to working with John as chair and the rest of the board to achieve those ambitions.”

In January, Diageo recorded an operating profit of $3.3 billion (£2.6bn) for the six months to the end of December, marking an 11.1 per cent drop compared with the same period a year earlier.