WG&S makes three senior appointments in GTR division
William Grant & Sons (WG&S) bolsters its senior global travel retail (GTR) management team as it eyes recovery and expansion in the duty-free market.
The three new GTR-focused hires are Karan Tuli (Regional Customer Marketing Manager, APAC and ME), Karim Moukalled (Customer Planning & Activation Manager - Global Travel Retail) and Richard Burns (Head of Commercial Finance – GTR).
Tuli (pictured above) will lead activation plans and strategies in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions and support the wider commercial team with execution of GTR vision and strategy. Based in the WG&S Singapore office, he will report to Lindsay Hitzeroth, Head of Customer Marketing – GTR.
Tuli joins with wide GTR experience, most recently as ASEAN Area Manager, Travel Retail with Bacardi and Global Head, Travel Retail and General Manager Asia Pacific at Agatha Asia Pacific.
Tuli comments on his appointment: “I am very excited about joining the William Grant & Sons family at this pivotal time – we have a big year ahead with many challenges and opportunities to negotiate.
“As the industry continues to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am confident that we will have the right strategies in place which will help bring joy back into our channel and to delight travelling shoppers.”
Experienced marketer Karim Moukalled (pictured above) joins WG&S after serving as Marketing Activation Manager – Global Travel Retail at JTI (Japan Tobacco International) for the best part of six years. In that role, was responsible for the planning and implementation of activations for major JTI brands across the Middle East and Africa.
Moukalled started his career with British American Tobacco as a Trade Marketing Executive in Saudi Arabia after graduating from the Lebanese American University in Beirut. He holds a bachelor degree in business marketing.
He has lived and worked in four different countries over the past six years, and is fluent in English, Arabic and French.
Moukalled said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the William Grant & Sons GTR team as Customer Planning & Activation manager, focusing on the Southern and Western Europe territories.
“While my career background is mostly within the tobacco industry, the travel retail channel is no stranger to me so it will be interesting to bring my knowledge and experience to practice in such a great, vibrant and innovative company.”
Completing the trio of appointments is Richard Burns (pictured above), who will soon move to London to take up his GTR finance role after more than three and a half years working as Senior Commercial Finance Manager for WG&S Australia in its Sydney office. He will report to Iain Short, Finance Director for APAC & GTR.
His most recent employer prior to WG&S was Coca-Cola Amatil, also based in Australia, where his last role was as Finance Business Partner – Retail Sales & Marketing.
Burns said: “This is a great time to take on a role in the GTR division of William Grant & Sons just at the time when the world is really opening up for travel again after the trials of COVID-19.
“The growth opportunities and potential in the travel retail for our brands is huge, and I look forward to playing a part in helping our team take advantage of them.”
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