Glenfiddich Scotch whisky-maker William Grant & Sons has appointed Isabelle Meyer as group general counsel, replacing Catriona Macritchie who is set to retire.

Meyer joins from B&Q owner Kingfisher, where she was group functions legal director and deputy GC. At William Grant, she will oversee all legal matters for the company.

North Lanarkshire, Scotland-based William Grant & Sons owns premium spirit brands including Glenfiddich, Monkey Shoulder, Drambuie, Hendrick’s gin and Tullamore Dew. It is a more than 135-year-old family-owned drinks business, with distilling and bottling operations in Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, India, the US and Mexico.

Meyer “brings considerable experience to the business”, the company said in a statement.

She joins after just under two years at Kingfisher, having previously been deputy GC at food delivery app Just Eat. She also had spells as legal director for Europe at Moët Hennessy and senior legal counsel for commercial and competition at Coca-Cola European Partners.

Prior to that Meyer spent more than six years at Japanese tobacco business JT International, just over three of them as compliance officer and another three as assistant GC. She also spent just under two years as senior legal counsel and head of compliance at HSBC in Switzerland, having trained at Baker McKenzie. Earlier in her career she also worked at JPMorgan, including as a legal advisor in its private banking division.


Macritchie, meantime, departs after three years at William Grant – her second spell with the company. She joined from rival drinks-maker Diageo, where she held a number of roles including GC for brand protection, data privacy, HR and global legal ops, and GC for global IP and antitrust.

In other alcohol-related in-house moves, in January Jack Daniels-owner Brown-Forman Corporation said it was promoting Mike Carr to GC, replacing incumbent Matthew Hamel who is retiring this month. In July last year, US beer giant Molson Coors Beverages, which owns brands including Carling and Fosters, hired Natalie Maciolek as chief legal and government affairs officer from luxury bathroom and kitchen business Kohler.

And in March last year, Lucozade-owner Suntory Beverage & Food hired Ewa Chappell as GC from Diageo, where she was legal counsel for its global supply and sustainability unit.