Don Blaustein is an Advisor and Principal of the New England Consulting Group and a key member of our Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods practice teams.
A proven and ambitious leader, Don brings over 35 years of pro-active strategic marketing and sales experience successfully growing global brands including Heineken, Guinness and Monster Energy.
His career began at Kraft General Foods, leading the marketing efforts behind classic American beverage brands such as Kool-Aid, Country Time Lemonade, Crystal Light, and Tang Instant Breakfast Drink. From there, he was hired by Diageo, a global leader in beverage alcohol, where he spent 16 years in senior leadership roles growing and inspiring the award-winning Guinness brand. As the vice president of sales and marketing in the US and then president and managing director for Guinness operating units in Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America and Australasia, Don delivered 20+% growth across a wide portfolio of premium beer brands.
After Diageo, he took on additional executive positions, including president & CEO of H.P. Bulmers, a predominant cider company in the UK, vice president of global sales at Molson Coors, and then president and CEO of Heineken USA where he managed a multi-billion dollar business marketing and selling world-class imported beer brands including Heineken, Heineken Light, Amstel Light, Dos Equis, Tecate and Newcastle Brown Ale.
Most recently, Don was the senior vice president of International at the Monster Energy Company, a leading global powerhouse of energy drinks and alternative beverages. While there, he was instrumental in driving growth, building high-performance teams and influencing company direction in numerous regions including Latin America, Australasia and the Pacific.
Mentor and community advocate, Don serves on the board of California’s Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (soon to be Chapter Chairman), and as an advisor to numerous local, national and international beverage companies.
A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Don was responsible for bringing NCAA basketball back to the university after a 10-year hiatus. He also received a Master’s in Management degree at the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Don is the proud father of two children and is married to Roni Feinstein, a nationally renowned art historian.
