A NEW chief executive has been hired to run the brewer behind Scotland's biggest-selling lager brand.
Drinks firm C&C Group has announced that Brian Calder is to take the reins at its Tennent Caledonian Breweries (TCB) business, home of Tennent's Lager.
Mr Calder will take charge of the Glasgow-based brewer after a phased succession from current incumbent John Gilligan, who will wind down his commitments over an unspecified time.
The change comes just days after Dublin-based C&C completed the full takeover of Wallaces Express, the Irvine-based drinks wholesaler led by Mr Calder. That deal, which will see the wholesaler renamed Wallaces TCB, came a year after C&C had taken a 50% stake in the business.
Mr Calder revealed he jumped at the chance to take the role when he was approached by C&C chief executive Stephen Glancey as the firm acquired the remaining 50% shareholding in Wallaces Express.
He said: "We are all very enthusiastic about the combined business. You can just see from the improvements C&C is making to Wellpark and in the investment [it] is putting into Scotland [that] it's a very exciting time for the trade in Scotland. To be part of that... I'm just delighted to be involved."
Mr Calder's appointment effectively marks the first change of employer in his career, having spent 41 years with Wallaces Express. He took control of Wallaces in a management buyout with fellow director Chris Cosh in 2003.
Mr Gilligan took over as managing director at TCB three years ago after serving as a director at Glasgow-based wholesaler Wm Morton for 10 years.
Mr Calder added: "John has expressed an interest to wind down over a period of time. It's good succession planning to make sure we have a smooth path to the future."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article