Gus Griffin '82 MBA '87
President & Chief Executive Officer, MGP Ingredients
Gus Griffin has served as President and CEO of MGP since July 2014 and as a member of the Board of Directors since August 2014. Mr. Griffin has nearly 30 years of marketing and general management experience in the beverage alcohol industry. He served for 24 years with Brown-Forman Corporation, where he ultimately became Senior Vice President and Global Managing Director in charge of the company's flagship Jack Daniel's business.
Immediately prior to joining MGP, Mr. Griffin spent a year as Executive Vice President of Marketing for Next Level Spirits, a northern California-based producer, importer, and distributor of premium wine and spirits brands. Between 2011 and 2013, he served as Brand and Business Consultant for Nelson's Green Brier Distillery, Nashville, Tennessee.
Mr. Griffin joined Brown-Forman as a Merchandising Representative in 1987 and later moved into sales management. From 1990 to 1997, he advanced through a series of increasingly important brand management roles in Brown-Forman's U.S. marketing organization. In 1997, Mr. Griffin was named Vice President and Managing Director of Brown-Forman's Pacific Region, relocating to Sydney, Australia. He returned to the company's headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2001, assuming responsibility for the Jack Daniel's brand for the Asia Pacific Region. Within a year, Mr. Griffin was appointed to serve as Vice President and Managing Director for West Main Interactive, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brown-Forman in the digital and relationship marketing arena.
In 2005, he was named Vice President and Regional Director for Brown-Forman's Southern Europe operating unit based in Barcelona, Spain. With a promotion to Senior Vice President and Global Managing Director for the company's Southern Comfort brand in 2007, Mr. Griffin returned to Brown-Forman's headquarters to lead a worldwide marketing team. He transitioned to Senior Vice President and Global Managing Director for the Jack Daniel's brand franchise in 2008.
In 1982, Mr. Griffin earned a bachelor's degree in economics at William & Mary, located in Williamsburg, Virginia. He received a master's degree in business administration in 1987 from the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at this same institution.
