Gibbons will be stepping down this month, after serving for four years as a WSET trustee.
Grant Meikle, who holds the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines & Spirits, said: “The formal qualifications WSET offers provide a pathway for talent in the wine and spirits industry to develop and become the next generation of experts. I am an alumna myself and know first-hand how the resources provided are invaluable to individuals and businesses alike.”
Grant Meikle has spent more than twenty years in the wine and spirits business, after seven years at Matthew Clark where she began in sales and ended up as wine range controller, she joined William Grant & Sons UK in 2011 as head of on premise strategy, to then become director of prestige.
Grant Meikle moved to the company’s US operation as commercial strategy director, then becoming regional manager for the State of Illinois. Now back in the UK and working for the company's procurement team, she is a champion of women in the spirits industry, helping to shift the perception that whisky is a man’s drink.
WSET chief executive Michelle Brampton said: “I would like to thank Allen for his important contribution over the last four years. I am very pleased to welcome Kirsten to the WSET Board of Trustees. Kirsten has valuable skills and experience to bring to the table, especially in helping us to enhance our understanding of the spirits industry, grow the reach of our spirits qualifications and help us to shape our organisation for the future.”
WSET’s Board of Trustees is chaired by Simon McMurtrie, its other members are Miles Beale, Lulie Halstead, Dan Jago, Jo Locke MW, Jo Thornton and Sukhinder Singh.
