Our leadership

Simon has been Chief Executive Officer since February 2013, having joined Britvic in September 2011 as Managing Director, Great Britain.

Simon’s earlier career was with Diageo plc, a global leader in alcoholic beverages. His last role was Managing Director of Diageo Great Britain, having previously run Diageo’s businesses in South Africa, Ireland and Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to this he led various functions and held a variety of international finance director roles in Diageo, IDV and Grand Metropolitan.

Simon was the President of the Incorporated Society of British Advertising from 2015 to 2017.

Simon was born in Zimbabwe and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in South Africa having gained a Business degree at the University of Cape Town.

Joanne has served as Chief Financial Officer since September 2019. She is responsible for the finance, strategic, risk and internal audit, procurement, IT and master data teams. She has primary responsibility for all financial-related activities including the development of financial and operational strategies, strategic planning, deal analysis and negotiations, and investor relations. Joanne also chairs Britvic’s ESG Committee.

Joanne has extensive financial and international experience with a strong background in the retail sector. Prior to joining Britvic, Joanne was Chief Financial Officer at dunnhumby, a global leader in customer data science and part of the Tesco group. Prior to this, she held a variety of financial and commercial roles at Tesco, working internationally as well as in the UK. Joanne started her career at KPMG, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant and spent three years in Hong Kong.

Joanne studied Economics and Politics at Trinity College Dublin and holds the INSEAD Certificate in Corporate Governance.

Clare joined Britvic as General Counsel and Company Secretary in September 2013 and is responsible for the Legal, Company Secretarial and Estates teams across Britvic.

Clare has extensive legal and corporate governance experience over a 20-year career and prior to joining Britvic was a corporate/M&A partner at law firm Addleshaw Goddard LLP, where she had a particular focus on FMCG clients.

Clare holds a degree in Law from the University of Bristol.

Matt is responsible for all aspects of global brand strategy, research and development, corporate affairs and the company’s sustainability agenda.

Matt joined Britvic in 2014 from Diageo plc, a global leader in alcoholic beverages, where he was a senior member of the marketing team for more than 15 years. Matt was Marketing and Innovation Director for Diageo Europe and prior to that Marketing and Innovation Director for Africa. He also worked and lived in Italy for a number of years whilst with the company.

He started his career as a graduate trainee at Mars, working in sales and marketing across the pet care and confectionery businesses.

Matt is a former Chair of both the Marketing Group of Great Britain and the Advertising Association’s Front Foot group, he sits on the Food and Drink Federation President’s Committee and is a Fellow of the Marketing Society.

Kevin joined Britvic Ireland in September 2008 as Marketing Director and was appointed Managing Director in June 2013. He has over 30 years’ experience in sales, marketing and general management in FMCG companies, including Unilever and Dairygold. He is Chair of the Prepared Consumer Foods Council, part of Ibec, Ireland’s largest business lobby group.

Kevin holds a first class honours degree in Marketing from Trinity College Dublin and a postgraduate diploma in Digital Marketing.

Paul joined Britvic in September 2012 and was promoted to the role of Managing Director, Great Britain, the following year. He has played a pivotal role in business-shaping milestones, including Britvic’s commitment to move to 100% recycled plastic bottles.

Prior to Britvic, he worked in commercial roles at Mars Confectionery and United Biscuits, where he developed his passion for FMCG.

Paul is President of the British Soft Drinks Association.

Paul holds a degree in Management Sciences from The University of Manchester.

Hessel joined the business in September 2015 with over 20 years of management experience in the international FMCG industry. He is responsible for Britvic Teisseire International (France; Europe; Americas; Asia; Global Accounts, Middle East, Africa & Export).

Prior to joining Britvic, Hessel held various regional and global leadership positions at Coca-Cola, Heineken and SCA Group.

Hessel is based in Amsterdam and holds a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Nyenrode University.

Pedro joined Brazilian drinks company Ebba in 2009, which became part of Britvic Brazil in September 2015. Pedro became Managing Director, Brazil, in 2021.

Prior to this position, he was CFO of the Brazilian business unit and Vice President of Finance and Operations.

Pedro has more than a decade of experience as an Investment Fund Manager within various sectors in North East Brazil, including Casa Forte Investments and Rio Bravo Investments.

Pedro studied Business Administration at the Pernambuco University and gained an MBA from FGV with an extension at the Harvard Business School.

Sudeep joined Britvic in 2016 and became a member of the executive team in June 2022. Retaining oversight of IT, data and analytics from his previous role as Chief Information Officer, Sudeep is also responsible for cross-functional transformation programmes.

Sudeep started his career in India as a business analyst for Cognizant, having graduated in mechanical engineering. He moved to London in 2006 on secondment with J.P. Morgan, eventually leading an international business transformation programme for the investment bank. Subsequent roles have seen him develop digital solutions for consumers at M&S, Jack Wills and Selfridges.

Elly joined Britvic in February 2022 and is responsible for the design and execution of the People Strategy for the group, including talent management, organisational change and capability, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing, and reward.  

Elly has considerable expertise in developing progressive talent strategies, delivering innovative employee experiences, and building and scaling culture transformation. She was most recently VP Culture & People Strategy at Tate & Lyle PLC and formerly the Group Talent & Organisational Development Director and HR Director for Group Functions at Whitbread PLC. She also held a series of international and global roles across talent, inclusion and diversity and organisational change at Thomson Reuters Corporation.  

Before entering HR Elly was a management consultant and holds a MA and MPhil in Historical Studies from Cambridge University.

Steve joined Britvic as Chief Information Officer in 2014 and became a member of the Executive team in June 2018, taking on additional responsibility for Britvic’s digital transformation.

From October 2020, Steve was appointed Managing Director, Beyond the Bottle, Britvic’s forward-thinking approach to the future of dispense. In addition, Steve runs Britvic’s Group Procurement Function.

Prior to joining Britvic, Steve was at Marks & Spencer plc where he was responsible for IT for UK stores, the international businesses in more than 40 countries, and the critical commercial and supply chain systems used across the food business. Earlier in his career, he worked for Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser where he performed a number of director-level roles within IT, and was CIO at Tarmac Group, where he combined running the IT function with the Programme Director role of Tarmac’s Business Transformation Programme.