Heineken bolsters UK corporate team

Heineken, the beer and cider business, has bolstered its UK corporate relations team with a new head of public affairs and an internal promotion.

Sophie Goodall will join the company in August as the head of public affairs, while Claire Matthews has been promoted to the role of head of responsibility and sustainability. Goodall, who is currently public affairs manager at Sainsbury’s, was previously an account director at Hanover, the public affairs consultancy.

Goodall and Matthews will report to the recently promoted UK corporate relations director, David Paterson.

Heineken’s corporate relations function is an integrated team that manages both external and employee communications.

Paterson said: “Our role at Heineken is to build reputation and create positive conditions for growth in the face of a challenging public policy environment and growing stakeholder expectations. Claire and Sophie each bring experience, but crucially both have a track record of innovation. They will play a pivotal role in building our campaigning capability and taking the next step on our journey to lead the drinks industry on responsibility and sustainability. I’m delighted they’ve chosen Heineken for the next chapter of their careers.”

Paterson joined the company in October 2012. His previous roles include a head of regional affairs
position at Asda, and head of policy and communications for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He replaces Jeremy Beadles, currently UK corporate relations director, who has been promoted to the same role for the Asia Pacific region, based in Singapore.