BIER Member Spotlight: Kieran McGuire

Name: Kieran McGuire | European Environment Health and Safety Manager

Company: Brown-Forman

Connect with Kieran on LinkedIn

Welcome to our series aimed at spotlighting the individual leaders within BIER member companies and stakeholder organizations. Learn how these practitioners and their companies are addressing pressing challenges around water, energy, agriculture, climate change, and what inspires each of them to advance environmental sustainability in the beverage sector and collectively, overall.

Briefly describe your role and responsibilities and how long you have worked with your company.

I’m heading up European environment, health and safety division for Brown-Forman as the European EHS manager. My responsibility is for our global production European facilities in Scotland, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands. In this role, I work on the implementation of the Brown-Forman Environmental Sustainability Strategy in the region, as well as support EU sites in their safety and environmental regulatory compliance programs. I’ve been with Brown-Forman for nearly three years. Prior to that, I worked with Diageo for 13 years. You could say I’m a bit of a veteran in the drinks industry; I’ve worked within the spirit beverage industry my whole career to date.

How has the company’s sustainability program evolved over the years, and what are your specific priorities for 2024?

Since the launch of the most recent Brown-Forman sustainability goals in 2021, there’s been a shift from the business by expanding our environmental sustainability team, which is led by Andy Battjes, our Global Sustainability Director. That team is tasked with helping deliver our overall Brown-Forman sustainability objectives.

At a regional level, within my role, the main focus for the European facilities is still very much climate action. With that, we’re looking at greenhouse gas reductions and also renewable energy generation. I support the teams by developing key performance indicators (KPIs) and working with them to identify how these overall targets will be achieved.

I also work with external partners on exploring and finding sustainable solutions and technologies, doing a lot of feasibility work with them and selecting different technologies that fit into our operational sites. These activities align with our sustainability strategy and budget expectations to ensure that the right investments are made when large projects start to come online.

Much of my work involves discussions with external partners and subject matter experts about new/emerging technologies. It’s innovative and rewarding work. Often, consultants approach us with ideas, and some of them we don’t take any further than an initial discussion. However, some we take through to data sharing and even conceptual design work. That is why I enjoy my job so much. It’s the innovative part of finding solutions that’s the most interesting part of my role.

Learn more about Kieran McGuire in this BIER Member Spotlight.