Heineken has appointed the former managing director of its U.S. business, Dolf van den Brink, president of its Asia Pacific region effective Oct. 1, the company said late Thursday.
Van den Brink, who led Heineken’s U.S. business from 2009 to 2015 and, most recently, its Mexican unit, succeeds Frans Eusman, who will become executive director of global audit.
Heineken’s Mexican business, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, is the Dutch beer giant’s largest operating company with brands including Dos Equis, Tecate, Bohemia, Carta Blanca and Sol. MillerCoors last year obtained the right to import the latter into the U.S. under a 10-year sales and marketing agreement.
Van den Brink, a 45-year-old Dutchman, has been with Heineken since 1998. During his stint running the company’s U.S. business, he was named to Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list in 2012, alongside executives including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
“Dolf has an outstanding track record building high performing teams in both developed and developing markets,” said Jean-Francois Boxmeer, Heineken’s chairman and CEO, in a release. “His strong leadership and people skills, coupled with his strategic, commercial and marketing insights, will be very valuable assets in driving continued growth in the Asia Pacific region
Van den Brink will take over a region that has 50 brands and 45 breweries scattered across 19 countries. Brands in the region include Tiger, Kingfisher and Bintang. Heineken's Asia Pacific business finished 2017 up 3.5 percent in revenue and 3.8 percent in operating profit. Revenue per hectoliter fell 6.9 percent, but beer volume was up 10.9 percent.