Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) CEO and managing director Michael Clarke has announced that he will retire from the position next year, to return to the UK and spend more time with family.
Clarke will continue to act as an advisor to the company for up to one-year following his departure, offering strategic support on key initiatives such as potential mergers or acquisitions.
TWE chief operating officer Tim Ford will take up the chief executive role on Clarke’s departure in the first quarter of fiscal 2021.
“It is without question the extraordinary transformation and outstanding financial returns that TWE has achieved, have been driven by Michael’s leadership over the past five and a half years,” TWE chairman Paul Rayner said in a statement to the ASX.
“The structural changes and initiatives delivered by Michael and his team have established TWE as a significantly stronger business than when he first joined the Company, and one that is very well placed to continue delivering sustainable, margin accretive growth well into the future.”
Ford has worked alongside Clarke in executive leadership roles at TWE over the past eight years. Prior to the position of chief operating officer which he took up in January this year, Ford acted as deputy chief operating officer, running Asia, Europe and ANZ regions.
Rayner said he is confident in Ford’s depth and breadth of experience in the business and expects that the company’s “best years are still to come”.
