Retail Drinks Australia has appointed a new Chair and Board of Directors, plus unveiled a new strategic vision at its first AGM.
Five new appointments were made to the Retail Drinks Board representing a range of different industry categories: Christopher Baddock (CEO, Australian Liquor Marketers), John Wilson (Owner, Hawker & Charnwood), Richard Kelsey (Co-Founder, Beer Cartel), Scott Towers (Red Bottle Group) and Sharni Wise (Vantage Group).
The new Board Directors replaced several retiring foundational Board Directors, some of whom will continue in a new capacity for Retail Drinks as State Council chairs including Faye Hartley (NT) and Sam Cufone (SA).
The remaining foundational Board Directors who will continue on the Board are Gavin Saunders (CEO, Liquor Marketing Group), Shane Tremble (General Manager, Corporate Services at Endeavour Drinks), Paul Heilman (Managing Director, Top Cellars Group), David Short (Managing Director, Shorty’s Liquor), Cathi Scarce (Acting CEO, Coles Liquor), David Smith (Managing Director, Diageo Australasia) and John Carmody (CEO, Hotel & Tourism Management).
A new Chair of Retail Drinks Australia was also appointed, with John Carmody (above) succeeding the retiring Giuseppe Minissale in the role.
Carmody paid tribute to Giuseppe and the outgoing Directors of the Retail Drinks Board: “I am honoured to be elected as the new Chair of Retail Drinks and I would like to acknowledge and thank the founding Board Members who are retiring, in particular Giuseppe Minissale for all of the work he has done as Chair to ensure that Retail Drinks is in the strong position that it is today.
“One of my biggest priorities is to ensure that Retail Drinks remains an inclusive organisation and one which is open to our entire industry, equally representing the interests of all liquor retailers across Australia,” Carmody said.
New strategic vision for Retail Drinks Australia unveiled
Following the election of the new Board, CEO Julie Ryan also unveiled a new strategic vision for Retail Drinks Australia to be pursued over the next two years, building on the achievements of Retail Drinks in its first year of operation.
Ryan stated that Retail Drinks’ core strategic vision would be centred around the expansion of services available to members and ensuring that the organisation was an agile and effective advocate for all of industry in its representations to government.
“As part of the core strategic vision for Retail Drinks over the next two years, we will be focusing on growing our membership services offering to assist our members operate their businesses sustainably and effectively, including in areas such as training and professional development, mental health and well-being, and data insights.
“The second key pillar of our strategic plan is to ensure that we remain a strong advocate for liquor retailers with both state and Federal governments across Australia on key policy issues affecting the industry, and we will achieve this by continuing to facilitate cooperation and collaboration between all participants in the industry.”
Ryan focused heavily in her AGM presentation on the need for industry to depart from historic competitive behaviours which stifle industry’s effectiveness in combating the major threats to the right to trade. Quoting Franklin Roosevelt, 'Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.'
Ryan urged industry to appreciate how inward focused competition limited the industry’s ability to defend itself from unified external opponents, referencing historic issues such as floor pricing and CDS.
“It is critical for us to work both collaboratively and cooperatively with each other and with governments to pursue the best possible policy outcomes for industry, utilising the combined relevance of both large and small business models.
“I look forward to working with new Retail Drinks Chair John Carmody and all of the new and remaining Board Members to achieve this ambitious agenda.”
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