AB InBev's board is composed of four independent directors, eight members appointed by the Stichting Anheuser-Busch InBev (a foundation organised under the laws of the Netherlands, which represents an important part of the interests of the Belgian founding families of the Company and the interests of the Brazilian families previously shareholders of AmBev) and three members appointed by the Restricted Shareholders in accordance with the terms of our articles of association.
Independent Board Members
Lynne Biggar
Ms. Lynne Biggar is an independent member of the Board. A US citizen, graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is a Senior Advisor at the Boston Consulting Group and is an independent Board director of Voya Financial, Inc., a leading health, wealth and investment company based in the US, and of Finastra, a financial software company headquartered in the UK. She is also an independent Executive Committee member of Leading Hotels of the World. Ms. Biggar was Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Visa from 2016 to 2022. Prior to joining Visa, she served as executive vice president of consumer marketing plus revenue for Time, Inc., and before that, she spent more than 20 years at American Express in a variety of leadership positions. Ms. Biggar is also a Board member of The New 42nd Street and the global media trade group MMA Global.
M. Michele Burns
Ms. Burns is an independent member of the Board. Born in 1958, she is an American citizen and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a Master's Degree in Accountancy. Ms. Burns was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mercer LLC from 2006 until 2012. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of The Goldman Sachs Group, where she chairs the Compensation Committee, Cisco Systems, where she chairs the Finance Committee, Etsy and Circle Online Financial, a private company. From 2003 until 2013, she served as a director of Wal-Mart Stores. From 2014 until 2018, she served on the Board of Alexion Pharmaceuticals. She currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Stanford Center on Longevity at Stanford University. Ms. Burns began her career in 1981 at Arthur Andersen, where she became a partner in 1991. In 1999, she joined Delta Air Lines, assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2004. From 2004 to 2006, Ms. Burns served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Restructuring Officer of Mirant Corporation, an independent power producer. From March 2006 until September 2006, Ms. Burns served as the Chief Financial Officer of Marsh and McLennan Companies.
Dr. Aradhana Sarin
Dr. Aradhana Sarin is an independent member of the Board. A US citizen, holds a medical degree from the University of Delhi, India, and an MBA degree from Stanford Business School, USA. Dr. Sarin is Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of AstraZeneca PLC since August 2021. Previously, she was Chief Financial Officer of Alexion, a rare disease biopharmaceutical company. Prior to Alexion, she was Managing Director, Corporate and Investment Banking at Citi Global Healthcare Banking, Managing Director of Healthcare Investment Banking at UBS, and worked at JP Morgan in the Mergers & Acquisitions advisory group. Dr. Sarin started her career practicing medicine in India and Africa. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross.
Dirk Van de Put
Mr. Dirk Van de Put is an independent member of the Board. A dual citizen of Belgium and the US, holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Ghent, Belgium. Mr. Van de Put is Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International, the global leader in biscuits and chocolate, since 2017. He joined Mondelēz from McCain Foods Limited, the largest marketer and manufacturer of frozen French fries, potato specialties and appetizers, where he was President and CEO since 2010. Before joining McCain, he was President of the Global OTC Division of Novartis Inc., a Swiss pharmaceutical company, and spent more than a decade with Groupe Danone, a maker of dairy, water, baby food and clinical nutrition products, where he served as President of the Americas Division and joint President of the Fresh Dairy Division. In the first 15 years of his career, he held many sales and marketing roles in Europe and Latin America for Mars Inc., as well as The Coca Cola Company, where he served as President, Coca Cola Caribbean. He is a Member of the Board of Directors at The Consumer Goods Forum, and has previously been a non-executive director of Mattel, a global toy company and KDP, a coffee and drinks company.
Representatives of the Main Shareholders
Sabine Chalmers
Ms. Chalmers is a representative of the main shareholders (nominated by Eugénie Patri Sébastien S.A., the holder of the Class A Stichting certificates). Born in 1965, Ms. Chalmers is an American citizen and holds a bachelor's degree in Law from the London School of Economics and is qualified to practice law in England and New York State. Ms. Chalmers is the General Counsel of BT Group plc. Prior to joining BT, she was the Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer & Secretary to the Board of Directors of AB InBev, a role she held from 2005 to 2017. Ms. Chalmers joined AB InBev after 12 years with Diageo plc where she held a number of senior legal positions including as General Counsel of the Latin American and North American businesses. Prior to Diageo plc, she was an associate at the law firm of Lovell White Durrant in London, specializing in mergers and acquisitions.
Paul Cornet de Ways Ruart
Mr. Cornet de Ways Ruart is a representative of the main shareholders (nominated by Eugénie Patri Sébastien S.A., the holder of the Class A Stichting certificates). Born in 1968, he is a Belgian citizen and holds a Master's Degree as a Commercial Engineer from the Catholic University of Louvain and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has attended the Master Brewer program at the Catholic University of Louvain. From 2006 to 2011, he worked at Yahoo! and was in charge of Corporate Development for Europe before taking on additional responsibilities as Senior Financial Director for Audience and Chief of Staff. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Mr. Cornet was Director of Strategy for Orange UK and spent seven years with McKinsey & Company in London and Palo Alto, California. He is also a non-executive director of EPS, Rayvax, Adrien Invest, Floridienne S.A. and several privately held companies.
Claudio Garcia
Mr. Garcia is a representative of the main shareholders (nominated by BRC S.à.R.L., the holder of the class B Stichting certificates). Born in Brazil in 1968, he is a Brazilian citizen and is a graduate from Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a B.A. in Economics. Mr. Garcia interned at Companhia Cervejaria Brahma in 1991 and was employed as a Management Trainee in February 1993. From 1993 until 2001, Mr. Garcia worked in several positions in finance, mainly in the area of corporate budgeting. In 2001, he started the first Shared Service Center for Ambev and in 2003 he became the head of both the Technology and Shared Services operations. Mr. Garcia participated in all M&A integration projects from 1999 until 2018. In 2005, he was appointed Chief Information and Shared Service Officer for InBev (following the combination of Ambev and Interbrew) in Leuven, Belgium. From 2006 to 2014, Mr. Garcia combined the functions of Chief People and Technology Officer. From 2014 to January 2018, Mr. Garcia was the Chief People Officer of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Mr. Garcia is a board member of Lojas Americanas, the Garcia Family Foundation, Chairman of the Telles Foundation and a Trustee at the Chapin School in New York City.
Paulo Alberto Lemann
Mr. Lemann is a representative of the main shareholders (nominated by BRC S.à.R.L., the holder of the class B Stichting certificates). Born in Brazil in 1968, he is a Brazilian citizen and graduated from Faculdade Candido Mendes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a B.A. in Economics. Mr. Lemann interned at PriceWaterhouse in 1989 and was employed as an Analyst at Andersen Consulting from 1990 to 1991. Mr. Lemann also performed equity analysis while at Banco Marka and Dynamo Asset Management (both in Rio de Janeiro). From 1997 to 2004, he developed the hedge fund investment group at Tinicum Inc., a New York-based investment office that advised the Synergy Fund of Funds, where he served as Portfolio Manager. Mr. Lemann is a Founding Partner at Vectis Partners and is a board member of Lojas Americanas, Lemann Foundation and Lone Pine Capital.
Nitin Nohria
Mr. Nohria is a representative of the main shareholders (nominated by BRC S.à.R.L., the holder of the class B Stichting certificates). Born in 1962, he is an American citizen and graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in Management and from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, with a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering. Mr. Nohria started his career as a faculty member of Harvard Business School in 1988 and served as its Dean from 2010 to 2020. He is currently Partner and Executive Chairman of Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm. Mr. Nohria also serves on the Boards of Directors of The Bridgespan Group, Mass General Brigham, and Rakuten Medical.
Heloisa Sicupira
Ms. Heloisa Sicupira is a representative of the main Shareholders. A Brazilian citizen, graduated from Columbia University (USA) with an MBA and from Pontifícia Universidade Católica (Brazil) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law, and is qualified to practice law in Brazil. She previously served on the Board of São Carlos Empreendimentos S.A. from 2018-2021. Ms. Sicupira began her career in 2011 as a lawyer specializing in capital markets. Since 2017 she has been an investment analyst and portfolio manager at LTS Investments and prior to that she was an investment analyst at MSD Capital.
Grégoire de Spoelberch
Mr. de Spoelberch is a representative of the main shareholders (nominated by Eugénie Patri Sébastien S.A., the holder of the Class A Stichting certificates). Born in 1966, he is a Belgian citizen and holds an MBA from INSEAD. Mr. de Spoelberch is an active private equity shareholder and his recent activities include shared Chief Executive Officer responsibilities for Lunch Garden, the leading Belgian self-service restaurant chain. He is a member of the board of several family-owned companies, such as Eugénie Patri Sébastien S.A., Verlinvest and Cobehold (Cobepa). He is also an administrator of the Baillet-Latour Fund, a foundation that encourages social, cultural, artistic, technical, sporting, educational and philanthropic achievements.
Alexandre Van Damme
Mr. Van Damme is a representative of the main shareholders (nominated by Eugénie Patri Sébastien S.A., the holder of the Class A Stichting certificates). Born in 1962, he is a Belgian citizen and graduated from Solvay Business School, Brussels. Mr. Van Damme joined the beer industry early in his career and held various operational positions within Interbrew until 1991, including Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy. He has managed several private venture holding companies and is currently a director of several family-owned companies such as Patri S.A. (Luxembourg). He is a member of the Board of the Kraft Heinz Company.
Representatives of the Restricted Shareholders
Martin J. Barrington
Mr. Barrington is a representative of the Restricted Shareholders. Born in 1953, he is an American citizen and graduated from The College of Saint Rose with a Bachelor's Degree in History, and from Albany Law School of Union University with a Juris Doctorate Degree. He is the retired Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Altria Group. During his 25 years at Altria Group, he served in numerous legal and business roles for Altria and its companies. These include Vice Chairman of Altria Group; Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Altria Group; Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Philip Morris International (a separate public company spun-off from Altria Group in 2008); and Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Philip Morris USA. Before joining Altria, Mr. Barrington practiced law in both the government and private sectors.
Salvatore Mancuso
Mr. Salvatore Mancuso is a representative of the Restricted Shareholders. A US citizen, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Iona College, USA. He serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Altria Group. Over the course of his more than 32 years with Altria, he has held a variety of leadership roles across the Finance, Compliance and Strategy & Business Development organizations. Previous senior roles for Altria Group include Senior Vice President, Finance & Procurement, and Treasurer & Vice President, Investor Relations and Accounting. Prior to joining the Altria Group, Mr. Mancuso worked for Pittston Company. He also serves on the Board of the Greater Richmond Partnership.
Alejandro Santo Domingo
Mr. Santo Domingo is a representative of the Restricted Shareholders. Born in 1977, he is a US, Colombian and Spanish citizen and obtained a B.A. in History from Harvard College. He is the Senior Managing Director at Quadrant Capital Advisors, Inc. in New York City. He was a member of the Board of SABMiller Plc until 2016, where he was also Vice-Chairman of SABMiller Plc for Latin America. Mr. Santo Domingo is Chairman of the Board of Bavaria S.A. in Colombia. He is Chairman of the Board of Valorem, a company which owns a diverse portfolio of industrial and media assets in Latin America. Mr. Santo Domingo is also a director of Life Time Group Holdings, Inc., an owner and operator of fitness centers in the United States and Canada, Florida Crystals, the world’s largest sugar refiner, Organización Decameron, a leading owner and operator of hotels in Latin America and the Caribbean, Caracol TV, Colombia’s leading broadcaster, El Espectador, a leading Colombian newspaper, and Cine Colombia, Colombia’s leading film distribution and movie theatre company. In the non-profit sector, he is Chair of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Fundación Santo Domingo. He is also a Member of the Boards of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, DKMS, a foundation dedicated to combatting leukemia and blood disorders, WNET, Mount Sinai Health System and Fundación Pies Descalzos, a foundation focused on assisting impoverished children in Colombia. He is a member of Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council (GAC).
Board Committees
The Board is assisted by four Committees: The Audit Committee, the Finance Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Remuneration Committee. Board Committees meet to prepare matters for consideration by the Board. Membership is detailed below.
