William Grant & Sons has appointed Diageo veteran Matt Johnson as its chief commercial officer for the U.S. Johnson spent 21 years at Diageo, most recently serving as senior vice president and general manager, Independent Division, where he led P&L for a $1.4 billion unit across 14 states, 41 distributor partners, and a 73-person team. According to Impact Databank, William Grant & Sons had U.S. volume of 3.4 million cases last year. “Matt is a very sharp strategic thinker, decisive leader, and has a people-first approach that unlocks performance through partnerships and executional excellence,” said William Grant USA president and managing director James Casey. “He has a very strong, multi-faceted background in sales, commercial strategy, distributor management and national account leadership.”In late March, William Grant named Casey as U.S. president and managing director, and Vérane de Marffy as CMO for the U.S. Casey joined William Grant from Constellation, where he served as senior vice president and chief sales officer of the wine and spirits division, having previously held key roles at Diageo, Gallo, and Treasury Wine Estates. Marffy is a veteran of L’Oreal and Ralph Lauren Fragrances.—Daniel Marsteller