James Watt is to step down as CEO of Brewdog, with COO James Arrow moving into the role.

Watt will now become the company’s ‘captain and co-founder’. New CEO Arrow joined the business from Boots Opticiians as its chief operating officer last September.

On a LinkedIn post, Watt said: “As a team we have won gold medals at the world beer cup, opened showstopping locations all over the planet, turned the beer industry on its head, continually taken a stand for the things we believe in, created thousands of jobs, broken crowdfunding records and continually strived to build the best company we possibly could.

“For almost 2 decades pretty much every second of my waking existence has been focussed on this amazing business. Being able to co-found and then lead BrewDog and our fantastic team has been the greatest privilege and the best adventure I could ever have wished for.

“After 17 fantastic years as CEO, I have decided to transition into a new role in the business, one of ‘Captain & Co-Founder’ – and James Arrow will pick up the reins as CEO as our business pushes forward into our next phase of growth.

“In my new role I will remain as a board member, a director and I will also be part time strategic advisor to the business and our to leadership team. Furthermore, I will retain my BrewDog shareholding and my Hop Stock initiative whereby I give 20% of my BrewDog shares to the team will remain in place.”

Photo: James Watt/LinkedIn/BrewDog