07/09/2023

IWSR embraces new leadership for continued growth and appoints Julie Harris as CEO

London, 7 September 2023 – IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, the world’s leading source of data and intelligence for the $1.5 trillion global alcoholic beverage market, is appointing Julie Harris as its new CEO. The transition comes following Mark Meek’s decision to step back from the CEO role and to take up a non-executive director position within the company.

Julie Harris joins from Comparison Technologies, a leading tech-enabled comparison and customer acquisition platform in the home digital services market, where she has been CEO since 2019. Prior to this, Julie has held several CEO roles across a number of sectors, including WGSN, the global leader in trend forecasting for the fashion and retail industry.

Julie Harris, newly appointed CEO of IWSR, commented: “I am delighted to be joining the very talented team at IWSR at such an exciting stage in its evolution and to build on the phenomenal growth of the last few years. Mark leaves the company in fantastic shape and I look forward to working with our global teams to continue to develop new and exciting products for our valued clients.”

Under Mark Meek’s leadership, IWSR has delivered annual revenue growth of 20% and has significantly expanded the coverage and functionality of its core database. The company has also developed a range of new products, including annual strategic consumer sentiment studies on topical issues such as ecommerce, no-and-low alcohol drinks and the impact of Covid-19. In conjunction with its strong organic growth, IWSR has also completed the acquisition of Wine Intelligence France, broadening its coverage of the wine sector.

Julian Masters, managing partner at Bowmark Capital, leading private equity investor and IWSR majority shareholder, commented: “Mark has been both a great leader of IWSR and partner to Bowmark, driving transformational change during his tenure as CEO. We thank him for his significant contribution to the company’s success and are delighted that we will be continuing to work together in his new role. We look forward to working closely with Julie Harris on delivering IWSR’s next phase of growth and continued product development.”

Mark Meek, outgoing CEO of IWSR commented: “I’m incredibly proud of what the IWSR team has accomplished, with the support of Bowmark, since the management transitioned from our founder. The business has grown strongly, and we’ve considerably enlarged our talent base and product range. The future continues to look bright. So now, after nearly 10 years, I believe it is a great moment to hand over the reins of the business to the talented Julie Harris. I look forward to being part of the IWSR story as a non-executive and will give Julie all my support to ease her into the new role.”

IWSR’s database tracks consumption trends across more than 35,000 brands and in over 160 countries. The company has over 200 blue chip customers representing all the major market participants including producers, ingredient manufacturers, investment banks and consultancies.

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About IWSR

For over 50 years, IWSR has been trusted by the leaders of global beverage alcohol businesses as an integral part of their strategic planning and decision-making processes. We uniquely combine our proprietary longitudinal market data, consumer insights and AI-enhanced data science, with valuable on-the-ground human intelligence in over 160 markets worldwide, to decipher what is really happening in the global beverage alcohol market. With access to our data, clients from across the drinks industry, including multinational spirits, beer, and wine businesses; packaging and ingredient manufacturers; distributors; and financial institutions, plan their strategies and future investment with a reliable, consistent and complete understanding of the global landscape.