CEO at Super Bock Group since 2015, Rui has joined the company in 2006 as CFO to later become Deputy CEO (2013).

With a 20-year long career in the banking industry (Banco BPI), he has background and experience in several areas, namely corporate finance, corporate banking, and private equity.

On top of his degree in Economics at FEP - Faculdade de Economia do Porto, Rui Lopes Ferreira has top management training at INSEAD (Advanced Management Program) and Harvard Business School (Senior Executive Leadership Program).

Holding relevant roles in various institutions in the region, namely being member of the Supervisory Board at Porto Business School and APGEI – Associação Portuguesa de Gestão e Engenharia Industrial.

Rui was Chairman of Cervejeiros de Portugal during the period of 2015 to 2018 has been recently reappointed as its Chairman (2023).

Benet has been Quality, R&D+i and Environment Director at Mahou San Miguel since 2016. Prior to this, he was Assistant Director of the same area. And from 2017 to 2021, he also held the position of Managing Director of the New Business Unit.

He graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Chemical Institute of Sarrià (IQS), with a specialisation in Organic Chemistry, and holds an MBA from EADA Business School and holds a Master in Brewing Technology from ESCEMA/UPM and ADECA at San Telmo BS in Sevilla He is currently the President of EBC (European Brewery Convention).

Benet has been part of the Mahou San Miguel team since 1997, when he joined as an Assistant in the Quality Division and Head of Projects.

Whilst studying Food Science at Reading University I developed a strong interest in Food Law. Following a brief spell in production management I trained as a Trading Standards Officer. I acted as lead food standards officer in a number of enforcement positions within the UK, also advising national and regional professional groups and working with the Food Standards Agency on risk assessment and food authenticity.

Building on my experience of advising food businesses on compliance, I moved to Leatherhead Food International to lead their regulatory group. Stepping then directly into the food industry I worked as Global Director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for Mars Drinks, before moving to a different drinks area with SABMiller plc, subsequently joining ABInBEV. As Global SRA Director I hold a strategic role as part of our Global Innovation Technical Centre, bringing together technical and legal communities to enable consumer centric innovations across our whole portfolio.

Lukas is an experienced beverage industry professional with a strong commercial track record in both scaling up and optimizing businesses. In his 15-year career within the Spirits, Wine & Beer industry he has proven his leadership by outperforming targets in various full lifecycle solutions in a several local and international projects.

In his current role his team is tasked to drive & increase the relevance of Feldschlösschen as the #1 in the Swiss beer market across a variety of adjacent categories like Wine & Spirits.

Jan Niewodniczanski studied brewing engineering at the TU Munich/Weihenstephan and later went on to complete his MBA studies at the Graduate School of Business at Cape Town University. He then worked at Spaten Franziskaner and gained international experience with Anheuser Busch USA and San Miguel Breweries in the Philippines and in China. From 1995 until 2006 he worked in different leading positions at South African Breweries SAB Ltd in South Africa.

Since October 2006 he has been back in the family business and in management where he represents the 7^th generation of family shareholders. His role: Managing Director Engineering and Environment at Bitburger Braugruppe GmbH.

With over 22 years of experience in the global beer industry, I am a seasoned and passionate leader who drives growth, innovation, and excellence. My core competencies include identifying new opportunities, sales and marketing, business development, and strategy. As the Global Sales Director and Board Member at Budweiser Budvar, I am responsible for expanding and developing the activities of the Czech national brewer beyond its country of origin, while staying true to its heritage, quality, and authenticity.

In my current role, I lead a step change in the export business, overseeing a network of over 80 markets and managing a team of 100 people. I have a strong track record of delivering results, achieving double-digit growth in volume and revenue, securing global contracts and partnerships, launching and developing new products and brands. I also leverage my legal and international business background to navigate complex regulatory and trade environments, and to build trust and rapport with diverse stakeholders. I am always eager to learn, grow, and challenge myself, and to share my insights and expertise with others.

With a 12-year career in beer, Lourenço has been the European Marketing Director for Leffe, Europe’s biggest specialty brand, for the last 3 years. He’s been at AB InBev for the last 6 years, across multiple marketing roles.

Before that, Lourenço spent almost 6 years at Super Bock, in multiple brand management roles. He led brand development for Super Bock in multiple international markets, more notably in China, where the brand found huge success in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

He holds a Business Management degree from Kingston University in London, and worked in several other industries, including cars and telecoms, before entering the beer industry.

Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the food & beverages industry at International level. Skilled in Marketing Management, Negotiation, Business Planning, Advertising, Sales and overall Business Management and Entrepreneurship. Strong business development professional graduated from ESADE with enhanced education from other prestigious institutions.

Celine Vleer is a creative, visionary thinker with a passion for design and innovation. She played a crucial role in shaping the former Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam from a low-key visitor centre to the world-renowned Heineken Experience it is today.

With her love for storytelling and her ability to connect with consumers from all over the world ensure that each visitor leaves with fond memories and a deeper appreciation for the art of brewing. She has been with Heineken for over 15 years and had several brand design/brand building roles within the company.

Celine holds a bachelor in creative business from the University of Applied science in Amsterdam. She has served Heineken in both Amsterdam and in Singapore.

Christopher was a co-founder of what became the Emerging Markets unit of the macro research firm TS Lombard, which in 2022 was acquired by GlobalData. His EM experience was forged in Russia, where, from the 1990s onwards, he was a British diplomat and then an analyst working in Moscow-based investment banks. His banking experience combined work both for financial investors – earning him top rankings in broker surveys – and strategic investors, including advisory work on the acquisition of Russian beer brands by international strategic investors. At TS Lombard, Christopher has integrated broad geopolitical risk analysis into the firm’s macroeconomic and market strategy research.

He is a regular commentator on political drivers for economies and financial markets in broadcast media and leading op-ed columns. He graduated from Oxford University, where he was also a Fellow of All Souls College.

An Insights for business impact enthusiast with 20+ years professional experience on both research agency and commercial business side, skilled in consolidation of qualitative and quantitative market research and other sources of business-relevant information into knowledge driving strategic decisions, strategic frameworks development, and business planning processes – with a forward looking mindset and of collaborative nature.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER / GENERAL MANAGER / MANAGING DIRECTOR / BUSINESS DEVELOPER

Highly accomplished and ambitious senior executive with more than 10 years of leadership experience in business development, sales and marketing, operations management, turnarounds and structural changes with successful work in turbulent local and international environment, mostly in highly competitive FMCG sector. Successful in management of large organizations, recruiting best people and building winning teams. Innate ability to motivate people for ambitious targets. Demonstrated expertise within 3 Baltic and nearby markets, utilizing deep knowledge of both employees and consumers habits and mentality. Understands Western business challenges while entering former USSR countries.

In 2016 Rob Fink founded the world’s first company to focus entirely on brewing Non-Alcoholic craft beer – Big Drop Brewing Co. As a lawyer with zero brewing experience, he teamed-up with an experimental brewer (Johnny Clayton from Wild Beer) and applied left-field fermenting techniques that meant no alcohol needed to be extracted from the end product to meet the required maximum 0.5% ABV. Less than 4 years later he is selling over 1 million bottles of 0.5% ABV beer annually around the world (eg Tesco in the UK, LCBO in Canada, Systembolaget in Sweden, Alco in Finland, NTUC Finest in Singapore etc). His beers have picked up 26 major international beer awards including twice being judged the ‘World’s Best’ at the World Beer Awards, Gold at the US Open Beer Championship and, the ‘Holy Grail’ of any non-alcoholic drink, winning medals against full-strength rivals in blind tastings. In 2019 Rob was a keynote at the Brewers of Europe Forum and the International Beer Strategies conference.

Julia is the CTO of Ölgerðin since 2022. She started her career at Ölgerðin following the completion of her degree in engineering in 2017. She has worked in production, process improvement, information technology, and served as the leader of Ölgerðin´s digital development.

Jane Peyton is an alcoholic drinks expert, writer, broadcaster, entrepreneur, and public speaker. She is the founder of the School of Booze consultancy. Jane was the UK’s first accredited cider sommelier, Britain's first Beer Sommelier of the Year, and is a former Drinks Educator of the Year. She is the author of several non-fiction books including ,  ‘The Philosophy of Beer’, ‘Drink:  A Tippler’s Miscellany’, ‘The Philosophy of Cocktails’.

A fully-rounded marketing leader with 12 years’ experience at top marketing-led organisations, such as Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble, that encompasses all key elements of the Marketing mix. Practised in leading agencies to execute £10m+ Through the Line campaigns, successful in executing Revenue Growth Management programmes on a £400m+ turnover business, and proficient in steering senior stakeholders towards a common vision. Now driving significant change at the UK’s largest independent brewery, Greene King.

Having studied microbiology at Reading University I joined Courage, Barcley, Simmonds at their Reading Brewery in 1975. In 1980 I moved to a regional brewery in Horsham Sussex, King and Barnes, and was promoted to Head Brewer in 1985. That brewery was taken over in 2000 and closed. As we had a successful production team which had won on 20 major prizes, including the overall Champion of the Great British Beer Festival and voted as one of the top ten breweries in the world, four of us set up out own brewery largely brewing and packaging beer for other brewers.

In 2016 we completed a ground up build of a new site implementing a lot of the carbon reduction actions that are now seen as vital.

As the co-founder of both North Brewing Co. and North Bar, John has played a pivotal role in redefining the craft beer landscape in the United Kingdom.

From the humble beginnings of North Bar in Leeds - the UK’s original craft beer bar to becoming a driving force in the craft beer revolution with North Brewing.

North now operate 10 bars around the UK, and a first franchise bar in Treviso, Italy. This level of commercial and critical progress is both relentless and organic. Bringing their Beer and Bao experience to the rest of the UK is their next mission.

His journey is marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence, dedication, and a knack for creating spaces where people can gather to savour unique brews and engage in meaningful conversations.

North Brewing currently brews over 5 million pints a year. The brewery supplies all of the major UK Supermarkets, exports to over 27 countries around the world and supplies the likes of Wagamama, Rudy's, Bill’s, Gusto and Dishoom nationally.

Their new home, Springwell, is a 21,000 square foot former Victorian Tannery which North converted into a modern brewery and 700 capacity taproom, carefully restoring the building, being mindful of its heritage and creating an incredible workspace and bar.

Constantly evolving and energised by an incredible team, John continues to be an important voice in both Hospitality and the Brewing community in the UK and further afield.

Hafsteinn is a chef by trade with over 15 years of managerial experience in the restaurant and beverage business in Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. Currently working as Head of Operations for the Brewery of Ölgerðin, Iceland’s biggest food and beverage company. He is also a certified Beer Sommelier with countless appearances speaking about all things beer.

Brothers Tom & Chris Hannaway founded Infinite Session, an alcohol-free beer brand, in London in 2017. As alcohol drinkers, they were looking for lower-strength beer options that actually tasted like beer they found in their favourite pubs and bars in East London.

Since launching, Infinite Session has sold millions of cans of their flagship IPA beer, in many countries around the world, and won several awards, including in alcoholic beer categories, with their core team of two.  Infinite Session has recently launched Brisk, a low calorie & 3.3% ABV Light Lager brand.

Experienced Sales and business development manager in technology-oriented companies with ambition to grow and change . I see the big picture, and focus on the parts that are most important for achieving results. I do well when it comes to keeping employees motivated. My strength lies particularly in getting an organization to developed their offering and align sales and marketing.

Brothers Tom & Chris Hannaway founded Infinite Session, an alcohol-free beer brand, in London in 2017. As alcohol drinkers, they were looking for lower-strength beer options that actually tasted like beer they found in their favourite pubs and bars in East London.

Since launching, Infinite Session has sold millions of cans of their flagship IPA beer, in many countries around the world, and won several awards, including in alcoholic beer categories, with their core team of two.  Infinite Session has recently launched Brisk, a low calorie & 3.3% ABV Light Lager brand.

Peter is The Chief Commercial Officer for Protium Green Solutions Ltd, the London based Green hydrogen solutions provider.

After spending a decade as a hedge fund manager in the early 2000s, Peter moved into renewable energy project development and investment management, and across the next 15 years focused on concluding the development & commissioning of more than 1,000 MW portfolio of wind & solar and battery system investments. Initially working for Deloitte, and then for a project developer owned by the Californian Teachers Pension Fund. Since early 2023 Peter has lead the Protium team in terms of commercializing the hydrogen production facility development process, and is speaking today to share the lessons learned from a specific customer that in his mind are important for the brewing sector to incorporate into their energy transition and decarbonization journey.

Peter is Professionally qualified in the private equity environment and holds a Charter to the Association of Alternative Investment Analyst, is a Financial Modelling and Valuations Analyst and is a Fellow of the SA Institute for Financial Markets. Peter has degrees in science, post graduate in Organizational decision-making and holds an MBA from Henley Business School.

Division Director and Managing Director experience with more than 25 years in multinational company. Proven track record of, Commercial, Sales Business Development and Strategic Management skills with strong leadership focusing and acting to develop and coordinate the overall business and strategy according to the Corporate Strategic Directives. Growth and entrepreneur mindset, strong leadership focused on communication, team building and consolidating customers relationship. Ability to work in a Complex Matrix Organisation.

Greg Klingaman is a retail and consumer sector executive with over 20 years’ experience leading business transformations and creating experiential destinations for major brands including Johnnie Walker, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and The Home Depot. Based in Amsterdam, he is currently VP, Strategy and Field Operations EMEA for AnyRoad, the leading experiential marketing platform. At AnyRoad he is responsible for leading their international expansion, overseeing EMEA business operations, and helping alcohol and CPG brands to optimise their experiential investments.

In his previous role as Global Retail Director at Diageo, he architected and led Diageo’s £185M investment in Scotch whisky brand experiences, headlined by the September 2021 opening of Johnnie Walker Princes Street in Edinburgh.

Italian born, Paola is fascinated by the variety of Italian regional cuisine, enjoys cooking for family and friends and is passionate about nutrition and healthy living. She loves travelling and hiking with her family and their chocolate Labrador.

Now European Marketing Director for Synergy Flavours, Paola started her FMCG marketing career in Italy with Nestlé. She then moved to the UK with McCormick where she has held both local and central organisation marketing roles.

Paola also set up her own management consulting company and has worked for some time with SMEs and charities on strategic growth road maps, brand positioning, communication, change management and team reorganisation and development.

Paola graduated from Universita’ di Genova and holds a Master degree in Business Administration and a Certificate in Company Direction from the Institute of Directoes (IoD).

Matt has a strong passion for all things flavour. He studied Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Nottingham and later went on to complete management studies at the Irish Management Institute. He started his career as a research scientist, before progressing through the R&D functions into the role he has today.

Matt spends his free time hiking, running, or cooking. He has a love for the fermentation of foods, developing home-made kombuchas and freshly baked sourdough loaves as a hobby. He loves to travel, and has held various global roles within Synergy, working with the dairy portfolio in Ireland and the coffee, tea, and hops portfolio in the United States.

In 2023 he relocated with his partner to Trieste, Italy, where he leads the natural extract design and manufacturing technologies platform for Synergy Flavours Europe.

Bineke Posthumus is Director Business Development at the Renewable Polymers department of Avantium. She holds the global responsibility for commercialization of Avantium’s lead plant-based products FDCA and PEF for the materials and packaging industry. Before joining Avantium Bineke worked as a senior business consultant for almost 10 years at TNO, the leading Dutch research Institute. Bineke hails a master’s in strategic management from the London School of Economics where she graduated in 2007.

Donna Davidson is a master at building and nurturing creative partnerships. With over 25 years of experience developing successful and award-winning brand destinations and cultural attractions, she has an in-depth understanding of the process and necessary relationships to produce an on-schedule and on-budget opening and an enduring, profitable operation.

Based in the United Kingdom, Donna excels at studying the unique blend of culture, people, location, and theme of a project and then assembling a strong team of professionals to execute it. Some of her most notable clients and projects include Guinness Storehouse, Pilsner Urquell: The Original Beer Experience, Jameson Distillery Bow St., Johnnie Walker Princes Street, The Heineken Experience, Tusker EABL, Glenkinchie Distillery, Guinness Open Gate Brewery, and Clynelish Distillery.

Donna holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has served BRC both in the U.K. and Burbank, California offices.

Chemical engineer, with over 8 years of experience in laboratory and R&D activities, including laboratory management and quality control at brewing industry. Sales manager at ColloidTek.

In terms of qualifications, Mr. Christoph Hiesgen is a graduate engineer in energy and environmental technologies.

Mr. Hiesgen has been employed by E.ON Energy Infrastructure Solutions since beginning of 2013. He has been active in the energy services business after his university graduation since 1997 and had different leadership roles in Sales being responsible in particular for the business development in different energy intense industrial segments.

David George is an experienced and a highly rated equity analyst from the investment banking sector. He has studied the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector for over 25 years, having worked in both Europe and Asia. David is a director in GlobalData’s Thematic Intelligence ecosystem, a single integrated platform for looking at all themes impacting all companies across all sectors. He also plays a lead role in in the delivery of custom research and advisory work and is regularly invited to speak at conferences on issues across the technology and digital industries.

Nehna has 16 years of global experience in consulting and market research.  Having successfully executed for the world’s largest FMCG companies in over 30 countries.  Nehna has successfully partnered with Dairy Brands and Export Agencies on Foreign Market Attractiveness Models, Functional Ingredients and Building Go to Market Strategies, among other things.

Nehna has a BS in Foreign languages and a MA in Finance.

Prior to GlobalData, she led large scale consulting engagements at Euromonitor, Technomic and Advantage International as well as worked as an independent strategy consultant.