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Naked Wines has appointed Rodrigo Maza as its new chief executive officer designate.
Maza has been the group’s UK managing director since September 2023, and will now work alongside chairman Rowan Gormley over the next few months to “ensure a successful transition”.
After this, he will assume the group CEO role permanently and Gormley will resume his previous role as non-executive chairman. Maza will also join the board with immediate effect.
Since joining Naked in September 2023, the group said he has “quickly demonstrated his strategic capability and business acumen”, and has extensive experience in the alcohol beverage industry at both larger and entrepreneurial businesses.
Prior to Naked, he launched and scaled several on-line delivery businesses for alcoholic beverages across a range of e-commerce and subscription models, including AB InBev’s TaDa Delivery in Latin America and PerfectDraft in Western Europe. He also held various executive roles at Grupo Modelo S.A. de C.V. and AB InBev.
Naked Wines added it has “greatly valued Maza’s contribution to the business thus far and welcomes his future leadership”.
Alongside the board, he will now lead the execution of the group’s turnaround strategy, leveraging his “customer-centric approach and extensive experience of cross-functional teams to restore sustainable growth for the company”.
The company has also appointed Emma Kamel, formerly COO of the UK business, to succeed Maza as general manager of the UK business.
Gormley said: “We are delighted to welcome Maza as CEO Designate. In his short time with us he has proven his ability to energise his team to get Naked back on the growth path, and his previous experience has a compelling combination of entrepreneurial startups and big company best practice, both of which we are going to need.”
Maza added: “I’m honoured and excited to accept the role of CEO Designate at Naked Wines. The value that Naked delivers to its customers and winemakers is clear and provides a solid foundation to build on. I look forward to working with the team across Naked and getting this amazing company to achieve its full potential.”
