As a member of the AB InBev family, Carton & United Breweries offers unparalleled global career opportunities for the passionate and ambitious. In the last 12 months, six CUB staff members have been appointed to overseas roles – four in New York, one in China and one in Switzerland.

One of these talented team members is Tim Ovadia, who has accepted the role of Global Brand Director Stella Artois based in New York.

What I’ve done 

I started at Carlton and United Breweries 10 years ago. CUB were originally my client when I worked for an innovation consultancy called WhatIF?!.  I loved the work that CUB was doing and they obviously thought I had the right skills and attitude to join the team.  I initially came across on a 12-month contract to a develop marketing capability program and despite swearing to myself that I’d never work client side…I’m still here 10 years later.

So why did I stay? Well it’s pretty simple…as a marketer the beer category is dynamic and consumers are passionate about their beer brands.  It is great to work on brands that consumers actually love.

Secondly, over the last 10 years I have been able to grow and be challenged.  CUB/ABI is an organisation that provides new and challenging opportunities that push you out of your comfort zone.  And most importantly my values align with the values of the business.  So when you’re learning and love what you’re doing…why leave?

After my 12-month consultant contract, I was given the opportunity to head up our Insights & Capability Team…something I’d never done before but it was a brilliant opportunity where we got to shape our philosophy as a marketing organisation, introducing new media principles that are still in place today and leading the rebalancing of the portfolio strategy that has helped transformed the business.

Following my time on insights, I moved into brand management and helped established the Yak Ales franchise, launching both Wild and Fat Yak and following that into my current role as Director Classic Brands.

Where I’m going

I am off to New York as Vice President Global Brand Director Stella Artois.  I am excited about the opportunity, but it will feel a little like home as there are a number of other Australians who are already there including Paul Donaldson, Richard Oppy and Amanda Tilley.

As a marketer there’s probably no more exciting place in the world to live and work. While it’s a big change for the family, our two girls are young enough to move without too many complications and the schooling system in the US is outstanding. Both girls have now selected their new basketball team and can’t wait to get on the plane although the gravity of the move probably won’t hit until we start packing up the house in the next couple of weeks.

What I’m excited about

When I was offered the opportunity, to be honest, I had to pinch myself.  And believe me, it didn’t take me long to accept. I never would have thought that as a marketer living in Australia, I would be the custodian of one of the world’s great FMCG brands.

Stella Artois was first launched in Leuven Belgium in 1708 in a brewery that was established in 1366.  Australia wasn’t even colonized till 1788!!  It is a privilege for me to able to nurture one of the world’s most well-known brands across 40 countries.

And of course, I will be working with one of the world’s most creative agencies in the world, Mother – another dream coming true.

I will be leading a team of 3 super talented beer marketers developing and executing a  program that unlocks the potential of Stella Artois to become the world’s largest and most premium European lager.

What is my BHAG?  Watch out Heineken!

Anita Holdsworth thrives on a challenge, which is one of the main reasons she finds her job as Plant Manager of Cascade Brewery at CUB so rewarding. ‘Each day presents me with a new problem to solve, encourages me to work with my team on innovative solutions and stretches all of us to be better.’

Starting at CUB as National Quality Manager in 2014, Anita was initially attracted to the company due to the iconic brands in its portfolio. Being a part of the Supply Team involved in bringing these products to the Australian public presented an exciting opportunity. But, once in the job, she soon discovered that just as rewarding as the opportunity to work with much-loved brands was the culture of innovation and the chance to work alongside like-minded people who are as passionate about brewing as she is. As Anita puts it, ‘What keeps me at CUB are the dynamic, passionate leaders and our agility as a business that enables us to respond quickly to consumer needs.’

CUB’s commitment to innovation extends beyond its products. The company is equally dedicated to fostering creative career pathways for those employees keen to stretch themselves and hone their abilities in different areas. Anita has experienced this first hand, saying, ‘What I love about working at CUB is that I can have a plan to continue going from strength to strength in Operations/Supply, but the reality is that another completely different opportunity may arise, taking me in another direction.’ Anita acknowledges that the support the company provides has helped her to ‘embrace being comfortable in the uncomfortable’, from which has come significant personal and professional growth.

In fact, Anita credits the fact that her team, peers, leaders and friends frequently remind her of her strengths for helping her to overcome her greatest work-related challenge – that of a tendency to underestimate her own abilities. Anita feels that her successful career can in part be attributed to the culture of camaraderie and commitment to developing talent at CUB.

Anita is cognisant of the fact that, as a woman working in beer, she is part of a vanguard of change in the once male-dominated industry. She says that CUB has not shied away from the task of encouraging diversity in the workplace, actively working to engage and retain women. Her own experience of the culture at CUB has been overwhelmingly positive. She describes the working environment as ‘a meritocracy: inclusive, dynamic and innovative’, values that led to her own appointment as not only the first female Plant Manager at Cascade but at CUB. And she is excited about the future for women at the company, which she sees as ‘full of potential’.

In the legacy-building phase of her own career, Anita is keen to play a role in shaping this future. She has a passion for helping women in STEM careers and appreciates the platform CUB provides her to express this interest, from being a mentor to public speaking. These opportunities are just one expression of the commitment CUB has as a foundational principle to ‘recruit, develop and train people who can be better than ourselves’. Anita encourages new and prospective employees to take advantage of this willingness of the organisation to nurture talent: ‘It is our job to help you, teach you, stretch you and develop you. Ask questions, interrogate our thinking, learn from mistakes, innovate, change and grow.’

Asked about her favourite position of her career so far, Anita responds enthusiastically: ‘Plant Manager! Being at the forefront of the business of making great-tasting beers and ciders has been the most rewarding and the most challenging role.’ One such challenge is the $10.3 million upgrade that Cascade, Australia’s oldest brewery, is currently undergoing, necessitating a change in the way brewing is undertaken as well as the way that the brewery fits into the wider CUB network. Anita’s role involves managing the site through this development, a task she is tackling with customary positivity: ‘My aim is to ensure that, as we navigate this change, we don’t lose sight of the reason we are here, which is to make great-tasting beers and ciders for our customers while driving value for CUB.’

As for the future, Anita is ready and willing to embrace whatever opportunities come her way. ‘The only certainty is that I will continue to face challenges with enthusiasm and a firm belief in the work that we are doing.’ For the moment she is relishing her current role, which sees her ‘working with a diverse range of people with different skills sets, all coming together in an iconic location, all with the same passion for Cascade – it doesn’t get better than that.’

Asked if he would change anything about the career path that has led him to his current position as Australia and Vietnam Procurement Director at CUB, John Tortora responds, ‘Join CUB earlier!’ In a career filled with highlights and characterised by a commitment to cross-functional experience that has broadened and honed his skills in a range of areas, John credits the supportive culture at CUB for much of his success.

Previously employed at Bosch, when John was offered the opportunity to bring best practice lean principles from there to CUB, he was quick to seize it. His new role required him to introduce lean methodologies to operations and influence leaders’ behaviour and attitudes to gain support for the changes. Before long, John was heading up the Packaging Team within the Abbotsford Brewery and implementing multiple changes to established ways of working. After two and a half years in this role, John’s outstanding results and the invaluable experience he’d gained allowed him to take on the role of Abbotsford Plant Manager, leading more than 340 employees. This rapid rise was also a result of the meritocratic CUB culture, in which talent is rewarded with opportunity, including the option of exploring other roles and functions in order to develop new skills, deepen experience and gain a broader understanding of the business at all levels.

Initially attracted to CUB due to it being a fast-paced FMCG environment, as well as the chance it provided to work with iconic and well-loved brands, John has since come to relish the many opportunities the organisation has offered him to take on roles outside of his comfort zone and accelerate his learning.

John says, ‘After having multiple roles within the Supply and Operations function I wanted to expand my experience into the Commercial part of the business. Procurement is a fantastic function to provide this as it exposes us to all parts of our P&L, and our contributions are both visible and significant. Knowing your decisions have an immediate impact on financial results is extremely empowering for me and our team.’

For John, the ability to move across functions has dramatically expanded his network both within the organisation and with external stakeholders: ‘It has allowed me to join the dots within our organisation and provided me a seat at the table to influence our total financial results.’

John derives tremendous satisfaction from this capacity to make a genuine difference and from being empowered to make vital decisions. He is energised by the dynamic environment in which he is able to see his actions quickly become results. He also enjoys providing his team with new types of work and business opportunities, as well as promoting individual team members into new roles. In this way he is able to make his own contribution to CUB’s practice of upskilling and cross-skilling that has so benefited him.

Working with an ‘amazing’ team towards a common goal is another aspect of his role that John appreciates, as is the fact that CUB’s Sustainability agenda also resides within Procurement, where he and his team are able to ensure that suppliers support the company’s commitments.

With such a variety of experience and so much to be content with in his current role, it might be difficult to imagine what’s left for John to do. He says that the next logical career step for him is to continue to broaden his Procurement responsibilities for the zone. But he is also excited by the fact that at CUB ‘you just never know what unexpected opportunity or role might present itself next.’

Given the wide-ranging opportunities for driving a career in exciting and sometimes unexpected directions at CUB, what advice would John give to someone just starting out? ‘Get ready for action within a fast-paced environment and being empowered. Be audacious and prepared to think big. Most importantly, get ready to join a proud team with brands and products to match.’

When it comes to making career decisions, Kate Illa has relied equally on her own intuition and guidance from trusted leaders and mentors. Those who know her well recognised her aptitude for sales and customer-facing roles even when she was still working in compliance and operational positions. And as someone with a healthy competitive streak as well as a natural talent for relationship-building, a career in Commercial at CUB was a natural fit.

As National Account Manager for BWS, Kate works with the BWS team to forecast, plan and drive sales growth for both Woolworths and CUB. Previous to joining CUB, Kate was in wealth management accounts but was drawn to FMCG for its capacity to enact change at a faster pace. Researching the field prior to making the move, a description of CUB as a challenging yet rewarding place to work made an impression on Kate: a fast-paced environment in which she could stretch her wings across new opportunities and exciting possibilities for advancement, was exactly what she was looking for.

And reality hasn’t disappointed. Through her work at CUB, Kate is able to bring together her corporate experience, background in bars and restaurants, and her love of beer. She is appreciative of the fact that CUB ‘took a chance’ on her.  Although she hadn’t previously worked in the liquor industry, she had experience in building corporate processes such as product launch frameworks and compliance reviews, as well as in looking after key accounts. The value of this diverse skill set was recognised. This open-mindedness and willingness to back talent is a hallmark of the way in which CUB operates and a quality that has continued to benefit Kate as her career has developed.

Working with products associated with pleasure and recreation is deeply satisfying for Kate, as is the ‘strong camaraderie’ her team enjoys. Indeed, being part of the shared dream of bringing people together for a better world is a major reason Kate loves what she does. The ‘transparent and honest’ principles resonate deeply with her, as do the organisation’s Better World commitments. ‘I regularly talk about the Better World commitments with my customers and outside of work. It’s so important that we look after our planet, and having my beliefs so closely aligned with the work our company is doing is extremely rewarding.’

Also rewarding is CUB’s flexible and supportive approach to career development. Kate says, ‘I have really benefited from a broader investment in my capability, which I think many companies take for granted these days.’ Being promoted just five months after joining the company was a ‘huge confidence boost’ and confirmation that her unique perspective and skillset were recognised. Innovations she has introduced at CUB include stand-up meetings and Kanban walls to manage projects and workflow, which have been appreciated by both leaders and peers whom Kate credits for keeping her motivated. ‘The people at CUB are what make it such an amazing place to work,’ she says, and she feels at home in a workplace culture that empowers everyone to share their ideas and opinions.

Kate is also stimulated by the fact that at CUB, working across different areas of the business is encouraged. She is keen to make the most of the many opportunities for upskilling and cross-training available, in order to deepen her knowledge and improve her ability to execute on business priorities. ‘Gone are the days of being stuck in a single role. I’ve learned that there are opportunities there for the taking. As part of AB InBev, the world is your oyster if you’re willing to work hard and dream big.’ The ambitious and driven Kate relishes doing both.

For anyone thinking about working at CUB, Kate offers the following advice: ‘Consider if you are ready for a fast-paced organisation. Ask yourself if you are willing to be agile and open to change. If you are, get ready to dream big and learn loads.’ This is just what Kate herself has done in order to achieve the success she’s enjoyed so far and it’s an attitude that will, no doubt, steer her towards an increasingly bright future at CUB.