India-born Ivan Manuel Menezes, CEO of Diageo passes away

CHENNAI: India-born British and American business executive, Sir Ivan Manuel Menezes, the Chief Executive Officer of global liquor major Diageo plc, died on Wednesday after a brief illness, the company said.

Born on July 10, 1959, in Pune, Ivan held UK and US citizenships, as well as Overseas Citizenship for India. He was hospitalised in London recently for stomach ulcer. “Over the weekend, we learned that Ivan’s recovery suffered a significant setback due to complications, which followed emergency surgery on the ulcer,” Diageo said on Monday while appointing Debra Crew as the company’s interim CEO.

Knighted by the British government in January 2023, Ivan was supposed to retire from the Board of Diageo that makes Johnny Waler and Guinness on June 30, 2023.

“This is an incredibly sad day. Ivan was undoubtedly one of the finest leaders of his generation,” said Javier Ferran, Chairman, Diageo. “Ivan was there at the creation of Diageo and over 25 years, shaped Diageo to become one of the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer companies. I saw first-hand his steadfast commitment to our people and to creating a culture that enabled everyone to thrive. He invested his time and energy in people at every level of the company and saw potential that others may have overlooked. This is one of many reasons why he was beloved by our employees, past and present,” Ferran said.