Heineken UK announce James Crampton as corporate affairs director

James Crampton has been announced as the new corporate affairs director for Heineken UK.

He joins from Merlin Entertainments where he was also corporate affairs director for four years overseeing the development of the function and its integration into the wider business, culminating in the recent transaction to take Merlin private.

Crampton has 20 years’ experience in corporate affairs both in-house and in agency roles with ten years within the beverage industry. Prior to Merlin, Crampton spent nearly eight years at Diageo in both global and regional positions and prior to that worked in communications at SABMiller.

He replaces David Paterson who has moved within the Heineken Group to take up the role of regional corporate affairs director, Africa Middle East in January 2020.

Crampton will report to David Forde, Heineken UK managing director, when he joins in the spring this year.

Crampton said: “I’m delighted to be joining Heineken, whose operations and brands I’ve admired for many years. I’ll be joining a respected and high performing team, and I look forward to working with colleagues across the UK to help champion the business and its people and drive our agenda in an ever more complex and changing environment.”

Forde added: “James will be a fantastic addition to the Heineken UK team. He joins the business at an exciting time and will lead a very busy Corporate Affairs agenda. I’m looking forward to welcoming him to the team.”