About

After completing his law degree, Richard Kindred trained with law firm Cleaver Fulton Rankin in Belfast and qualified into the corporate and commercial department before moving to the corporate team at Arthur Cox where he had the opportunity to be seconded twice to different consumer product companies. After these experiences Kindred decided the role of an in-house counsel suited him and moved to Bombardier Aerospace before joining Diageo in 2012. Since joining Diageo he has had the opportunity to undertake various roles both in Ireland and also in Canada, Nigeria and London. He has been in an earlier evolution of the role since November 2015, but spent nine months as acting legal director for Diageo’s global travel business in 2017 and 2018. Highlights of Kindred’s last two years include leading legal advice to the changing operations of Diageo in Ireland where Guinness is such an iconic brand including: the €170m investment in a new Guinness Brewery at St. James’s Gate, only the fourth Brewhouse in Guinness’ history; restructuring operations from four breweries to one; constructing the new Roe & Co distillery and extension to the Guinness Storehouse; and the potential development of St. James’s Gate into a new urban quarter. He identifies that, ‘legal counsel need to be able to take a wider view than a particular legal problem and consider the business objectives and corporate and brand reputation both in the short and long term and provide advice accordingly’. Kindred also takes pride in developing those around him particularly seeing a member of his team develop and secure a more senior role, sharing knowledge and investing in people which he views is critical to success. He has also streamlined the use of external law firms, centralised legal budget with a clear owner to ensure better value for money and overhead savings and routinely advises on multimillion-pound customer and supplier contracts. The business operations in Japan operate through joint venture arrangements and distributors, in which Kindred advises and supports the general manager, financial director and marketing director of Diageo in Japan on these strategic relationships. Kindred highlights that, ‘his role has expanded organically as new opportunities have become available and I have been willing to say “yes” to these new challenges’. For example, Diageo is investing significantly in the brand experiences for consumers in Scotland and Ireland at the moment with the aforementioned extension of the very successful Guinness Storehouse, the opening of the new Roe & Co Distillery and Diageo’s £150m investment in Scotch Whisky Tourism. He adds that, ‘I have and continue to lead legal advice on these projects as they fall within one aspect of my role and as they start to commence operations it has seemed a natural evolution that I take on advising these parts of the business on an ongoing basis. Juggling between everything can of course be a challenge however it is a great experience as these three diverse areas allow me to see Diageo’s business from the initial sourcing of materials and manufacture of Diageo’s products through our customers and partners to the end consumer’.