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Brown-Forman

Mark Gounden is a commercially driven marketing leader and Chartered Marketer (CMSA) with over 15 years of experience driving brand-led growth, portfolio transformation, and market expansion across Africa, the Middle East, and emerging markets. Known for bridging global brand strategy with deep local cultural insights, he has unlocked high-value growth for Brown-Forman, Distell, Suntory, Campari Group, Diageo, and Unilever. As Marketing Director for Africa at Brown-Forman, he led strategic initiatives delivering +21% revenue growth and doubled market share across priority emerging markets, including the relaunch of Jack Daniel’s in South Africa, which delivered an +11% increase in brand equity scores. Mark’s career highlights include designing a €400M innovation pipeline spanning Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean at Suntory, and a Tanqueray Gin turnaround at Diageo that converted declining brand performance into +50% revenue growth in a single fiscal year, laying the groundwork for a tenfold growth trajectory over the following three years. He holds a BCom Honours in Marketing from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Management from the IMM Graduate School, and is certified as a Chartered Marketer of South Africa.