Diageo PLC has appointed Gabriel Opoku-Asare as Director for North America Region, effective July, 1.

He will be based in Washington D.C.

In this role, Gabriel will be partnering with the Diageo North America Society team for the execution of the Spirit of Progress (SOP) agenda across all three pillars: Grain-to-Glass, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Community Engagement and Responsible Drinking.

North America’s ambitious Spirit Of Progress (ESG) agenda continues to grow and Mr Opoku-Asare will help drive scale, accelerate execution and create a positive impact with stakeholders and communities.
 
He has about 20 years of experience in corporate relations covering the key pillars of public policy, communications and sustainability. 

In his most recent role as Corporate Relations Director for Diageo Southeast Asia, he led the development and implementation of SEA’s Spirit Of Progress agenda overdelivering on positive drinking targets, championing ‘new to world’ grain-to-glass sustainability initiatives and ensuring strong coordination and engagement on Spirit Of Progress among senior leaders and functions. 

He also played a key role in developing strong employee engagement campaigns (reaching 90+ Employee Engagement scores two years in a row) and amplifying Diageo Southeast Asia’s external profile as a corporate and employer brand of choice. 

Mr Opoku-Asare brings strong leadership credentials with his extensive experience in partnering with General Managers, function heads and managing large teams.  

Prior to his Southeast Asia role, he was the Head of the Society for Diageo Africa where he was instrumental in shaping Diageo Africa’s sustainability strategy, co-led the formation of Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance and successfully drove the first year of delivery of our 2030 Spirit Of Progress targets in Africa.  

Mr Opoku-Asare joined Diageo in 2016 from Unilever where he was Corporate Affairs Director for Ghana.

He has previously spent over 6 years with Mohinani Group and K-Net in Ghana, leading corporate affairs, projects and customer relations.

Gabriel holds a BSc in Land Economy from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), a Graduate Certificate in Public Relations from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Masters in International Relations from University of Leicester, Executive Education Certificate in Shared Value Strategy from Harvard Business School and Executive Education Certificate in Leading Sustainable Corporations from Oxford University.