BrewDog’s Director of Global Business Development is stepping down

Neil Simpson, BrewDog’s head of global business development, has joined former CEO James Watt in stepping down.

Simpson joined BrewDog in 2012 as its first-ever chief financial officer, and in 2018 he became director of global business development. He sat on the brewery’s management board.

A spokesman for BrewDog said: “Following James Watt’s recent decision to step down as CEO, global business development director Neil Simpson has also decided to step down after 12 years to pursue new business ventures.

“We thank Neil for his service and wish him all the best for the future.”

Prior to his employment at BrewDog, Simpson worked for the accounting firm Ritson Smith, where he advised BrewDog shortly after its launch in 2007.

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland.

In 2020, he briefly took over as interim CFO before the appointment of Neil McCallum.

McCallum was subsequently replaced as BrewDog’s CFO by James Taylor in October 2023.

During Simpson’s time at BrewDog, revenues grew from under £20m to £321m in 2023.

Read more: What’s next for BrewDog after CEO James Watt steps down?

Last month, the Aberdeenshire brewer announced that its chief operating officer James Arrow would take over running day-to-day operations and Watt would return to a non-executive role to “concentrate on other projects and interests”.

BrewDog has not yet confirmed a successor to either Simpson or Arrow as chief operating officer.