Oliver Loomes has been promoted to country director at Diageo and will head up the drink group’s commercial and sales operations on the island of Ireland. Loomes is a graduate of UCD and the Michael Smurfit Business School. He joined Diageo in 1999 from Mars where he had spent seven years in sales and marketing in Ireland, the UK and Europe.
In his 16 years with Diageo, he has held a range of senior marketing positions in Diageo’s beer business across Ireland, Europe and globally. He was previously marketing and innovation director and in 2011 was appointed Guinness global brand director, overseeing the brand’s marketing programmes across over 130 markets worldwide.
Most recently as marketing director for European beer, he led the marketing of Diageo beer portfolio across the continent, alongside the creation of the Brewers Project, including HopHouse 13. He has also overseen work on Diageo’s agency brands in Ireland, including Danish lager Carlsberg and Budweiser, whose headquarters is in St Louis, Missouri.
Loomes replaces David Smith, now managing director at Diageo Australia.
