Articles published under the media release byline are news produced by the relevant business and remain unedited by Brews News. This media release was circulated by Retail Drinks Australia.

Michael Waters – Retail Drinks Australia .Picture : Gregg Porteous

Retail Drinks Australia (Retail Drinks) has today announced the appointment of Mr Michael Waters as Chief Executive Officer.

Waters had been serving in the role in an acting capacity from 01 July 2020 following the departure of Retail Drinks’ founding CEO, Julie Ryan, and prior to that held the position of Chief Operating Officer since December 2018.

Retail Drinks Chairman, John Carmody, congratulated Michael on his appointment and praised his work as Acting CEO over the past five months.

“On behalf of the Retail Drinks Board, I am delighted to confirm the appointment of Michael Waters as Retail Drinks CEO on a permanent basis and look forward to his leadership of the organisation in the years to come.

“Michael has demonstrated a strong aptitude for the role and his long history with the organisation in its various capacities over the past 11 ½ years puts him in an ideal position to push forward with the organisation’s ambitious strategic plan.

“Over the last five months of Michael’s tenure, Retail Drinks has secured several positive outcomes for the industry, including successfully ensuring that all liquor retail remained open during Stage 4 lockdowns in Victoria and most recently in South Australia, as well as negotiating key changes to the Liquor Amendment (24-Hour) Economy Bill in NSW.”

Waters thanked the Chairman and the Board and reaffirmed his commitment to deliver on Retail Drinks’ strategic priorities over the coming years as outlined at the recent Retail Drinks AGM in September.

“I would like to thank the Retail Drinks Board and am grateful to be given the opportunity to continue the important work of representing all of Australia’s retail liquor industry as permanent CEO.

“I am enormously proud of Retail Drinks’ achievements over its short history and am excited to help implement our core strategic priorities of driving momentum, continuing to lead and deliver value, expanding member services and benefits, enhancing industry responsibility, sharing our stories and promoting the good.

“I look forward to leading the Retail Drinks team and to supporting and working in close collaboration with our growing, diverse membership to deliver on our vision of enhancing the freedom to retail responsibly.”