Heineken USA, White Plains, N.Y., has announced that Frans van der Minne, its former president and chief executive officer and current strategic partnership director for Heineken NV, will retire from the company in June. Van der Minne has been with the global Heineken organization since 1975 in a variety of leadership positions.
“Frans’ retirement will mark the end of an exceptional 35 years of service to our business,” said Jean-François van Boxmeer, chief executive officer and chairman of the executive board of Heineken NV, in a statement. “In that time, Frans has probably sold more Heineken beer to more customers than anyone else in our company’s history. I want to sincerely thank Frans for his outstanding dedication and leadership through the years. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”
Van der Minne began his career at Heineken in 1975 at Heineken Netherlands. In 1977, he moved to the Export Group and, for several years, was based in Singapore and Sydney. After an interim period as general manager of the Murphy Brewery in Ireland, he returned to Amsterdam in 1989 as export director.
In 2000, van der Minne and his family moved to the United States, where he took the role of president and chief executive officer of Heineken USA. As leader of that business, van der Minne began the relationship with Fomento Económico Mexicano S.A.B. (FEMSA) to market its portfolio in America – ultimately paving the way for Heineken’s pending acquisition of FEMSA’s beer business announced in January. He was also instrumental in the decision to develop Heineken Premium Light for the U.S. market.
Van der Minne returned to the Netherlands in 2006 as group human resources director and a member of the company’s executive committee. He will finish his Heineken career as strategic partnership director.
