Claudia Schubert currently leads the growth and transformation of Diageo’s spirits business across the US and Canada, which includes iconic brands such as Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal and Don Julio.
Claudia is known for her commercial and strategic thinking alongside her ability in transforming businesses and leading change across an entire organization; her leadership of the recent evolution of Diageo North America’s route-to-consumer model is just one example of this. She has extensive multimarket experience — having most recently led Diageo Continental Europe, Russia & Eastern Europe, a spirits and beer business made up of 20 countries, and has worked, traveled, and lived around the world, including Germany, The Netherlands, and across the U.S.
Claudia is one of several women in senior leadership positions at Diageo North America, where gender diversity is a key priority (women now compose 50 percent of the executive team). Under her leadership and direction, Diageo North America has significantly increased its investment in advancing analytics and technology, all in service of better understanding consumers’ ever-evolving preferences, allowing Diageo to create the best marketing programs and product innovations to drive greater salesforce effectiveness.
No stranger to the drinks industry and U.S. marketplace, Claudia started her career with Diageo in 2002 and has held a number of commercial & marketing senior leadership positions including president, U.S. Control States and Canada, where she led the commercial spirits & wine operations. There, she was instrumental in shaping and implementing Diageo’s new route-to-market strategy and led the transition of Diageo’s Washington spirits business from a control to an open state. Previous to that, she served as president of Diageo Chateau & Estate (DC&E) Wines based in California, where she was responsible for the marketing, sales, and wine operations for Diageo’s wine portfolio.
In addition to her diverse career at Diageo, Claudia previously worked in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group. Her academic qualifications include an undergraduate degree in financial accounting and taxation from the Technical University in Dresden and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Claudia grew up in the East German city of Dresden, in the northern wine-growing region of Saxony.
Currently based in Diageo’s New York office, she lives in New Jersey with her husband, Brad. Outside of the office, Claudia enjoys travel, cooking, food, and will make a plan to try any restaurant. She also enjoys exploring and learning about new cultures. Her favorite cocktail is a Ketel One Botanical Grapefruit Spritz in a wine glass.