Heineken brings in Mondelez’s Glenn Caton as head of Europe region

Heineken on Wednesday announced that Glenn Caton will succeed Soren Hagh as president, Europe from 1 January 2024.

Caton joins Heineken from Mondelez International, where he is currently senior vice president, global commerce and was previously president for South-East Asia and president of Northern Europe.

He will join the Heineken executive team reporting to Dolf van den Brink, chairman and chief executive.

Soren Hagh will leave Heineken on 31 December.

“I would like to express my gratitude to Soren for his significant contributions to Heineken over the last ten years,” van den Brink said.

“Soren has driven our EverGreen transformation in Europe investing in our premium portfolio and driving innovation at scale, whilst also building a future-fit organisation by leveraging our supply chain network and digitally transforming our route-to-consumer. He has been a valuable member of the Executive Team and I wish him every success in his future ventures.”

Caton  joins Heineken after 10 years at Mondelez, and at his current role, he has been responsible for channel strategy; revenue growth management; customer partnerships and sales excellence.

He started at Mondelez in 2013 as VP for chocolate, Northern Europe before becoming president, Northern Europe in 2016, where he delivered strong top and bottom-line growth through a focus on world-class manufacturing, commercial excellence and a refreshed brand marketing.

He moved to Singapore in 2018, initially as category president for chocolate across Asia, Middle East and Africa before becoming business unit president for South-East Asia where he successfully steered the business through the Covid pandemic, driving growth, productivity and strengthening the organisation.

Glenn started his career at P&G, where he worked for nine years based in the UK and Geneva in roles across sales and marketing. He then moved into the wine sector as senior marketing director for Europe at E&J Gallo in 2003.

In 2006 he joined Hiscox Insurance as UK sales & marketing director and subsequently managing director of the UK direct to consumer business based in London; where he led the shift from a B2B business to a more consumer-orientated, brand-led business. After four years he returned to the wine sector as UK managing director of Direct Wines, the largest consumer wine business in the world.

“Glenn brings great experience of operating across different sectors, regions and cultures,” van den Brink commented.

“He has driven growth and innovation and delivered consistently strong results leading businesses in FMCG, financial services, direct-to-consumer and retail. He is an entrepreneurial, highly commercial, and creative leader who has demonstrated a clear ability to build highly motivated teams that drive for results and deliver change. He will be a great addition to Heineken and our executive team, and I very much look forward to working with him.”