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Sideways job move for Constellation’s Australian chief

Constellation Brands has restructured its European and Australian management with a new 13-person team reporting to president, Troy Christensen.

A key role of the new team will be to review operations in both regions during the next thee months.

Constellation Wines Australia (CWAU) president, John Grant, is one of the 13 but has been shifted to the new position of president of regional estates.

Christensen, then president, Europe, was given responsibility for CWAU in June when Constellation restructured its international business management.

Staff have been told in an internal statement that the new management team, which consists of six Australian and seven European staff, will oversee unification of activities in the two countries to ‘provide greater alignment across both geographies’ and ‘identify any improvements to ensure integration across our Australian and European operations.’

The team covers legal, sales, marketing, information technology, finance, production, human resources, supply chain and Gaymer cider, as well regional estates.

Grant’s role will be to develop a strategy for getting improved performance from Constellation’s Australian premium regional brands.

The appointment lends weight to reports that Constellation is preparing to split its commercial and premium businesses into separate units.

When Grant became president of CWAU in early 2007, he said he believed Australia had a major chance to develop a reputation for its super-premium and ‘luxury’ wines, especially in the US where he had been president of Kendall Jackson Wines and chief of staff and chief marketing officer for Jackson Wines Estates.

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Written by Chris Snow in Adelaide

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