31 Dover-owner DMD Ventures hires ex Diageo director as finance boss

DMD Ventures, the owner of online drinks retailer 31 Dover, has hired former Diageo director Alicia Thompson as the company’s chief financial officer.

Thompson, aged 36, worked for PwC in mergers and acquisitions initially in Australia before being transferred to London where she worked with retail and consumer goods companies including Diageo, which is when she was introduced to the world of drinks.

While at Diageo Thompson held senior positions working on emerging market transactions, new-to-world spirits and held the global account director position for Tesco.

She joined DMD in February this year, after a four-month stint as financial director of Allplants, a London-based start-up specialising in vegan ready meals.

She also founded and ran her own women’s fitness wear business, Queen of the Mountains, between 2015 and 2018.

Thompson said she was interested in joining the company because of its “nascent and fast-growing position within the drinks’ industry, agility as a small start-up, focus on digital – moving the industry online – and the ambition and direction that CEO James Bagley has set for the business.”

With previous roles at PwC, Deloitte and Diageo under her belt, Thompson said she will bring years of finance, strategy, M&A and commercial experience to her new role at DMD, and hopes to be “a key leader within the business”.

“Now is a particularly exciting time to join with UK drinks purchases still hugely under-penetrated within the online market and many changes and consolidations occurring within the wholesale industry,” she said.

“There are many untapped opportunities on the digital side and DMD is positioned to become the market leader; we are primed for growth, have a great team in place and the opportunities are extremely exciting,” adds Thompson who has her sights firmly set on being a chief executive.

DMD’s current CEO James Bagley, who joined DMD from his position as marketing director at Naked Wines in 2017, called Thompson a “formidable woman” who has the “right experience and right profile” to join the drinks company.

“She’s been a big hitter at Diageo and is just what our business needs to take it to the next level.”

Thompson said she wants to help rectify the gender imbalance in large firms, as despite many voluntarily making internal changes to their business structure, the majority of top roles are still occupied by men.

“One of the reasons why I left Melbourne, and Australia was to come to the UK and have the chance to break through the glass ceiling earlier,” she said.

“The Government has taken steps in the right direction but still needs to look further at paternity leave and enabling equal leave in its entirety between parents, so it’s not just women having to take time out from their careers.

“It’s something that weighs on my mind as I am hoping to have a family and I wonder what that will that mean for my career. But I don’t think that will dampen my appetite for my work, rather I think it will drive me as I will be working for my kids then just as much as for me.”