Diageo’s Ewan Andrew leads the Top 28 Supply Chain Executives Europe 2023 ranking

11 Dec 2023 Awards
Ewan Andrew

Ewan Andrew, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Diageo, has taken the number 1 spot in the 2023 edition of the Top 28 Supply Chain Executives Europe, climbing from seventh place in the 2022 ranking. Andrew: “As supply chain leader during the pandemic, there was great recognition that an agile, resilient and efficient supply chain was critical to growth and the business did everything it needed to support this. As a result, we were able to drive our supply chain strategies forward, accelerate our progress in enabling sales growth, improve margins and emerge stronger.”

Supply Chain Media launched the ranking of the Top 28 Supply Chain Executives Europe in 2015 as an overview of which European supply chain leaders are most successful in their journey and as a source of inspiration. This year, for the ninth consecutive edition, Supply Chain Media, digital consulting and technology firm IG&H Consulting and executive recruitment agency Inspired-Search shortlisted 60 individuals for this Top 28 from more than 100 vetted supply chain executives in Europe and methodically analyzed them on four dimensions. These executives are based in Europe and responsible for global supply chains at European companies, or for Europe at non-European companies, with an annual turnover of at least €5 billion. To qualify for this ranking, executives must have been in their current position since at least January 2022.

The Top 28 is based on realized financial performance with an emphasis on Return On Capital Employed (30%), personal functional responsibility in the supply chain and span of control (30%), personal visibility (20%) and peer votes (20%). Due to the highly variable financial performance of the 60 shortlisted companies analysed and many job changes in the past year, the ranking has 15 newcomers. The following have disappeared from this year’s Top 28 because they made a career switch: Fares Sayegh (ex-P&G), Vineet Khanna (ex-Nestlé), Emer Cunningham (within Pfizer), Richard Oosterhoff (within DSM-Firmenich), Alexandre Baubert (from Signify to Schindler), Massimo Andolina (ex-Philip Morris), Ivanka Janssen (from Philips to Swarovski) and Maria Pia de Caro (from Nomad Foods to Pernod Ricard). Christoph Häusler of Refresco and Joost Donkers do not qualify for the Top 28 because the minimum annual turnover level has been raised to €5 billion.

Ewan Andrew, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Diageo

Ewan Andrew has been with Diageo for more than 25 years. Having risen through the ranks, he knows how to deliver a world-class supply chain for the global producer of 200 premium and luxury brands, such as Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, with 28,000 employees across 132 sites in 180 countries. Ewan was appointed President, Global Supply Chain & Procurement in September 2019. In this role, he leads the team ensuring the company’s complex and modern supply chain operations work to the highest standards. Prior to this, he was Supply Chain Director, International Supply Centre, with responsibility for the global end-to-end value chain, and previously held various senior supply chain leadership roles around the world. Ewan is also Chief Sustainability Officer. Diageo has ambitious commitments through its ten-year ESG action plan which will help create a more inclusive and sustainable world. An integral part of this plan is pioneering grain-to-glass sustainability focused on three areas: preserving water for life, accelerating to a low-carbon world, and becoming sustainable by design.

Top 28 of Supply Chain Executives in Europe 2023 (2022)

1 (7)      Ewan Andrew, Global Supply & Procurement & Chief Sustainability Officer, Diageo

2 (4)      Paul Campbell, SVP Supply Chain Europe, PepsiCo

3 (15)    Frederic Brut, Head of Supply Chain EEMEA & APAC, MSD

4 (-)       Alberto Guttierez, Chief Operating Officer, Airbus

5 (-)       Antoine Vanlaeys, Chief Operations Officer, L’Oréal

6 (21)    David Boulanger, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Arla Foods

7 (23)    Sven Markert, Head & EVP of Supply Chain Smart Infrastructure, Siemens

8 (3)      Magne Setnes, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Heineken

9 (8)      Jamal Chamariq, Senior Vice President Global Supply Chain, Estée Lauder

10 (5)    Thomas Panzer, SVP, Head of Supply Chain Management, Bayer Pharmaceuticals

11 (2)    Harald Emberger, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Beiersdorf

12 (-)     Arne Flemming, SVP Corporate Supply Chain Management, Bosch

13 (-)     Dieter Braun, Head of Supply Chain, Audi

14 (14)  Karen-Marie Katholm, Chief Integrated Supply Chain Officer, AkzoNobel

15 (-)     Wayne Allan, Executive VP & Chief Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Officer, ASML

16 (-)     Liesbeth Geels, VP EMEA Supply Chain, Starbucks

17 (-)     Stephane Poittevin, SVP Global Supply Chain Europe, Schneider Electric

18 (-)     Pierre-Martin Huet, Head of Group Supply Chain, Michelin

19 (10)  Ralf Busche, SVP European Site Logistics Operations, BASF

20 (-)     Marc Schuller, Chief Operating Officer, Arkema

21 (-)     Pietro D'Arpa, VP Supply Chain Europe, Procter & Gamble

22 (-)     Thorsten Domke, VP Supply Chain Management, Infineon Technologies

23 (18)  Regis Simard, President Global Supply Chain, GSK

24 (9)    Martin Shankland, Global Operations, Adidas

25 (-)     José Antonio Echeverría, Chief Customer Service & Supply Chain Officer, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP)

26 (-)     Eb Mukhtar, VP Operations & Logistics EMEA, Nike

27 (22)  Padraig Healy, Vice President of Supply Chain, Nokia

28 (-)     Susanne Hundsbæk-Pedersen, Global Head Pharma Technical Operations, Roche

Hall of Fame

Marc Engel, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Unilever, was the first person to be added to the Supply Chain Movement Hall of Fame in recognition of him being named the No. 1 executive in two consecutive years (2017 and 2018). He was followed by Carsten Rasmussen, Chief Operating Officer at Lego Group (2019), Dirk Holbach, Corporate SVP and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Henkel (2020), Tariq Farooq, SVP Global Supply Chain at Sanofi (2021) and Sami Naffakh, Chief Supply Officer at Reckitt (2022).