Following the establishment of the company, James Watt is stepping down as CEO of BrewDog, marking a significant transition after 17 years.
In a detailed LinkedIn post, Watt said his tenure running the craft brewery had been “the best adventure I could have ever asked for.”
He will hand over the reins to James Arrow, who took on the role of Chief Operating Officer at BrewDog last summer after serving as CEO of Boots Opticians.
Watt will take on the new role of “captain and founder”, maintaining his presence as a board member, director and providing part-time strategic guidance to the company. In addition, he plans to stick to his commitment to distribute 20% of his BrewDog shares to team members.
BrewDog chairman Allan Leighton revealed that Watt expressed his intention to retire from the business last year. This prompted the company to begin a succession plan and hire Arrow for the role.
Leighton said: “James Watt created this great company alongside Martin Dickie in a garage in Fraserburgh. Few have achieved what he has. From very humble beginnings under his leadership, BrewDog has grown into the world’s leading craft brewery, employing 2,530 people across its headquarters, four breweries and over 120 bars .
Although Watt has guided BrewDog’s expansion into a global craft beer company, his leadership has faced controversy in recent years.
During 2021, more than 100 former employees signed an open letter calling for a “culture of fear” within the company. Watt later apologized and reaffirmed the company’s dedication to improvement.
However, in 2022, the BBC documentary “Disclosure: The Truth about BrewDog” alleged inappropriate behavior by Watt, which he has since denied.
BrewDog has often found itself at odds with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over its eye-catching campaigns. In recent years, the ASA banned an ad that claimed it was “the world’s first carbon negative brewery”. Additionally, in 2022, the watchdog noted that a BrewDog marketing email referring to its fruit beers, which counted as one in five a day, could potentially mislead customers.
writing on LinkedIn, Watt said: “My time at the helm of BrewDog has been full of ups and downs, highs and lows, crazy successes and incredibly tough challenges. Looking back on the last 17 years (119 dog years), I feel a huge sense of gratitude.
“Thank you for being able to build the world’s leading craft beer brand from scratch. Thank you for working with such amazing people across our business, including our wonderful community. I am forever grateful for all the great beers, all the standout Jack Hammer batches and all the wild adventures we’ve been on were a team.
“I am also grateful for the hard times, the lessons they taught, the determination they instilled and the perspectives they provided.”
Prior to his roles at BrewDog and Boots, Arrow gained a decade of experience at Dixons Carphone, where he held various leadership roles across e-commerce, trading, operations, sales and transformation.
