OREANDA-NEWS. November 2, 2011. Carlsberg Group is pleased to announce it has appointed Dr. Isaac Sheps, currently CEO of Carlsberg UK, to take over the leadership of Baltika Breweries (Baltika), the Group's significant Russian business. Sheps will also be a member of Carlsberg Group Executive Committee responsible for Carlsberg's operations across Eastern Europe. Isaac Sheps will start on 1 December and will replace Anton Artemiev, the current CEO of Baltika and SVP Eastern Europe, who continues as a member of the Baltika Supervisory Board.

Commenting on this announcement, Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen, CEO Carlsberg Group, said:

"Anton Artemiev and his management team have developed Baltika into a clear market leader within the industry and, despite challenging market conditions, Baltika is in a good position to profit from the exciting growth opportunities that Russia has to offer.

Isaac has a great track record at Carlsberg, both in South East Europe and the UK, and I am confident that his strong leadership skills; operational focus; and his diverse, international experience will serve us well at Baltika and across the Eastern European region."

Isaac Sheps joined Carlsberg UK in October 2008 and has been successful in turning the UK business around to a point where it is has tripled its profits while growing market share from 13% to more than 15%, at a time when the UK beer market has been in decline. In 2010, the Carlsberg brand family became the largest off-trade beer brand in the UK. During his previous three years as CEO of Carlsberg in South East Europe, the business managed to premiumise mainstream brands, grow volumes by over 40%, increase average net sales/HL by over 30%, resulting in a five-fold increase in earnings.

Isaac Sheps added: "This is an exciting prospect and I look forward to ensuring that Baltika continues to deliver a very positive contribution to the Carlsberg Group." 

Isaac Sheps was born on 26 March 1949 in Romania. He was educated in industrial engineering and management and holds an MBA and PhD in economics.

Isaac started his career in the  brewing industry 1998 as President and CEO of United Romanian Breweries. In 2004 he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Carlsberg Bulgaria, Carlsberg Serbia and Carlsberg Croatia. In 2006 he became CEO of Carlsberg Serbia. Through 2007- 2008 Isaac was in charge of covering 7 countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro holding the position of CEO Carlsberg South Europe. In October 2008 he was appointed CEO Carlsberg UK.

Before these positions in the beer industry Dr. Isaac Sheps hold several top management positions in the electronic and electro-optic industries.

Dr. Isaac Sheps is a known expert in Quality Management. For the last 17 years he has been a member of the international committee ISO/TC176, responsible for preparing the ISO 9000 family of standards.