Bacardi Limited Names Senior Vice President, Chief Communications & Corporate Affairs Officer

HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bacardi Limited, the largest privately-held spirits company in the world, announces the appointment of Eric A. Kraus, 51, to a newly created role of Senior Vice President, Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer, responsible for the Company’s Corporate Communications, External Affairs, and Corporate Responsibility functions globally.

“We’re thrilled to add Eric to Bacardi. With his extensive career encompassing all facets of corporate, brand, and public affairs communications, he will further drive our commitment to corporate responsibility, company reputation, and strengthen relationships with key stakeholders globally”

In this role, Mr. Kraus will lead all facets of Bacardi internal and external corporate communications, governmental and public affairs, and corporate responsibility programs in sustainability, social responsibility and philanthropy. He also will serve as a member of the Bacardi Leadership Team and report to Bacardi Limited President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Shirley. He will join the Company by January 28, pending approval by the Bermuda Department of Immigration.

“We’re thrilled to add Eric to Bacardi. With his extensive career encompassing all facets of corporate, brand, and public affairs communications, he will further drive our commitment to corporate responsibility, company reputation, and strengthen relationships with key stakeholders globally,” said Ed Shirley, President and CEO of family-owned Bacardi Limited. “He is a seasoned leader who believes in the power of integrated communications and collaboration among teams.”

Mr. Kraus most recently served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs of Covidien plc (formerly Tyco Healthcare) directing Covidien’s internal and external global communications and government affairs strategies.

“I’m excited to join Bacardi — a company with such an incredible heritage with so many respected and enviable brands,” said Eric Kraus. “I look forward to leading the team and leveraging the award-winning campaigns that continue to tell the unique story of Bacardi, while furthering our leadership position in responsible marketing and sustainable business practices to build upon our industry, regulator and NGO relationships.”

Prior to joining Covidien in July 2006, Mr. Kraus was Vice President, External Relations, Gillette, for The Procter & Gamble Company, a position he assumed following the October 2005 merger of P&G and The Gillette Company. Prior to the merger, he served as Vice President, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs for The Gillette Company. In this position, which he held from July 1999 until the merger, he had worldwide responsibility for all communications and public affairs strategies and functions.

Before joining Gillette in 1993 as Director of Communications for the Gillette North Atlantic Group, Mr. Kraus was a Public Relations Manager for Miller Brewing Company. Before that, he served as Director of Communications for Scitex America, a digital imaging equipment manufacturer, was an account executive at two leading public relations agencies, and a reporter for the Boston Herald.

Mr. Kraus is a graduate of Boston University in Massachusetts. As an avid community leader dedicated to volunteerism, he recently was honored by the American Diabetes Association as a “Father of the Year” recipient.

NOTE: A headshot of Mr. Kraus is available via www.BacardiLimited.com and BusinessWire.

About Bacardi Limited

Bacardi Limited, the largest privately-held spirits company in the world, produces and markets internationally-recognized spirits and wines. The Bacardi brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDÍ® rum, the world’s best-selling and most-awarded rum, as well as the world’s most-awarded spirit; GREY GOOSE® vodka, the world’s leading super-premium vodka; DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky, the world’s most awarded Scotch and the number-one selling premium blended Scotch whisky in the United States; BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, the top-valued and fastest-growing premium gin in the world; MARTINI® vermouth and sparkling wines, the world’s leading vermouth and the world's favorite Italian sparkling wines; CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, the number-one premium tequila in Mexico and a top-selling premium tequila in the United States; ERISTOFF® vodka, one of the fastest-growing vodka brands in the world; and other leading and emerging brands.

Founded more than 150 years ago in Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, and family-owned for the past seven generations, Bacardi now employs nearly 6,000 people, manufactures its brands at 27 facilities in 16 markets on four continents, and sells in more than 150 countries. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.