There is a new Managing Director at Guinness Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of Diageo Plc. His name is Mr. Peter Ndegwa and he succeeds Mr. John Okeeffe, who has been promoted to President, Diageo Africa, effective, 1st July 2015.

Mr. Ndegwa comes from Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, where he was the Managing Director since 2011, overseeing end to end (supply and demand) accountability for the profit and loss and commercial priorities of the business.

He oversaw complete re-frame of the business despite some very tough external operating conditions – substantial currency devaluation, slowing GDP growth and high cost of doing business.

Mr. Ndegwa joined Diageo in 2004 in East Africa, as Strategy Director for East African Breweries Limited (EABL), a Diageo subsidiary. He was then appointed Sales Director in 2006 and Group Finance Director in 2008.

Prior to Diageo, Mr. Ndegwa had over 10 years working in East Africa and United Kingdom with global accountancy and consulting firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Mr. Ndegwa holds an MBA from the London Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Nairobi. He is also a qualified accountant.

Mr. Peter Ndegwa, Managing Director, Guinness Nigeria, Plc

According to a statement from the company, Mr. Ndegwa is an effective and accomplished business leader with proven track record in strategic and commercial leadership spanning over 20 years.

He excels in orchestrating strategic change, driving organizational and team alignment and building momentum around business priorities and delivering superior business results. He leverages both his natural authenticity and strong diverse experience across a set of functional areas (strategy, sales, finance, consulting) to create impetus in organisations and teams; and has been particularly successful in creating highly engaged teams and organisations.

Mr. Ndegwa is very excited at the opportunity to lead a truly iconic business like Guinness Nigeria at this time and looks forward to working with the board, executives and management of the company to deliver its performance ambition.

Mr. John O’Keeffe, President, Diageo Africa

A statement by the company announcing the leadership change explained that Mr. Soren Lauridsen, who had previously been announced as O’Keeffe’s successor, had decided to leave his position due to personal and family related reasons.

The company said that Mr. John O’keeffe will continue as a non-Executive Director of Guinness Nigeria and, as the Diageo Executive responsible for Diageo’s African business, will continue to stay involved with Nigerian business.