Nakul Roy named managing director of Bacardi in Southeast Asia

Miami, Toronto, Dubai, Bangkok. Nakul Roy has sold spirits in more places than most bartenders have poured a drink. Now the commercial leader, with nearly two decades in the wine and spirits industry, has been named managing director for Southeast Asia at Bacardi. “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position,” he says. The role began in October 2026.

The career stretches across North America, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. Roy is currently leading premium spirits growth across dynamic and culturally diverse markets, with experience in sales, customer marketing, trade strategy, distributor management and commercial transformation. Along the way he has worked with global brands, key regional partners and cross-functional, multicultural teams to drive market expansion, premiumisation and sustainable business growth, while building high-performing organisations through strong talent development and recruitment.

His pitch is global and local at once. Having lived and worked across multiple international markets, Roy says he brings a global perspective combined with strong local market understanding, relationship building and consumer insight. He is passionate about building brands, developing teams and creating meaningful partnerships that drive long-term value.

Bacardi is where the story peaked. Roy has spent nine years and ten months at the company, rising steadily through the ranks. As commercial director and general manager for Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar from April 2026, based in Bangkok, he led Bacardi’s business across the four markets. His brief covered commercial strategy, organisational leadership, distributor partnerships and sustainable market growth across diverse Southeast Asian markets. He also serves on the board of directors of Bacardi Thailand.

The climb was steady. Roy was commercial director for Thailand, Singapore and Myanmar from April 2024, and commercial head for Thailand from August 2020, both in Bangkok. Before that he was commercial manager for the Gulf from June 2019 to August 2020, and market development manager for the Gulf from January 2017 to June 2019, both in Dubai.

The Dubai chapter began with a different employer. From December 2014 to December 2016 Roy was global business development manager at Allied Blenders & Distillers International LLC in Dubai. He led business development and market expansion across export markets spanning the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and North America, and managed commercial operations across more than 20 international markets, driving distributor partnerships, growth strategy and market execution. He also led export marketing initiatives across multiple regions, including consumer campaigns, retail visibility, trade activations and brand-building programmes. His cross-market projects included US television campaigns, retail branding initiatives across the UAE and Africa, consumer promotions, and innovation-led product launches for emerging markets.

The foundation was laid at Diageo, where he spent six years. From July 2013 to June 2014 he was reserve customer planning and activation manager in the Greater Toronto Area. He supported commercialisation and activation strategy for the luxury portfolio of Diageo Reserve across on- and off-premise channels in Canada, and managed and developed a team of Reserve spirit consultants to drive premium brand advocacy and engagement nationally. He led experiential activations and industry events including TIFF and World Class, and developed national activation programmes and commercial toolkits to strengthen retail execution and customer engagement. His national distribution initiative for the Reserve portfolio secured more than 1,900 new distribution points across Canada.

Before that, from August 2009 to June 2013, Roy was on-premise territory manager in Toronto, running one of the highest net sales value (NSV) on-premise territories at Diageo Canada. He oversaw key accounts and new business development across the Greater Toronto market, and drove market share, volume growth and new distribution gains through strong customer partnerships and commercial execution. He led rate-of-sale initiatives through promotions, feature programming, staff education and consumer engagement, and partnered closely with marketing teams on market insights, customer feedback and support for innovation and new product launches.

His Diageo career began in Florida. As dual sales specialist for Diageo Guinness USA in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area from July 2008 to August 2009, Roy managed on- and off-premise sales across key accounts in the Miami-Dade and Palm Beach markets. He drove account growth through new business development, relationship management and execution across grocery, liquor, bar and restaurant channels, supported regional promotional initiatives, consumer activations and brand-building programmes, and collaborated closely with distributors and cross-functional stakeholders across diverse cultural and commercial environments. He also led and coordinated distributor sales teams across the territory to drive execution excellence and volume growth.

The early internships were an education in themselves. In summer 2007 Roy was a trainee at Vallee De Vin in Nashik, India, supporting the winemaker and viticulturist across the end-to-end winemaking process, from harvesting and fermentation through to bottling. He collaborated with advertising agencies on wine packaging concepts and marketing ideas for domestic and international consumers, and worked with the estate manager and viticulturist on vineyard operations, grape quality and terroir-focused initiatives. In summer 2006 he was a marketing and sales trainee at LVMH in Mumbai, supporting brand planning and market development for its wines and spirits portfolio in India. He conducted field research and consumer analysis for the positioning of Terrazas Argentinian wines, led market mapping and consumer insight projects on evolving preferences among Indian wine consumers, and supported wine tasting studies and competitive analysis across the premium wine category.

His first job was in advertising. From December 2005 to January 2006 Roy was a creative trainee at Grey Worldwide in Mumbai, supporting copywriting and creative development, working on campaign briefs, brainstorming sessions and tagline development for client campaigns including Deutsche Bank. He developed foundational experience in creative strategy, consumer communication and brand storytelling, and researched consumer trends, market dynamics and the impact of advertising across categories.

The analysis is straightforward. Roy has done the job from nearly every angle: pouring in bars, planning for retailers, building distribution, running export markets and leading country teams. That is a rare mix for a region as varied as Southeast Asia, where Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar each need a different playbook. Add a board seat in Thailand and an eight-year run in the region’s trade, and Bacardi has chosen continuity with ambition.