Anheuser-Busch Names Blaise D'Sylva Vice President, Media, Sports & Entertainment Marketing

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Anheuser-Busch, the U.S. subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, today named Blaise D'Sylva to lead its U.S. media, sports and entertainment marketing division, responsible for directing the company's category-leading investments in growing its brands through media, sports and entertainment marketing properties at both the national and local levels.  D'Sylva will report to Paul Chibe, Vice President of U.S. Marketing and joins the company on January 16.

"Blaise brings a combination of strategic, analytical and entrepreneurial qualities needed to expand the capabilities of Anheuser-Busch in today's media landscape," said Chibe.  "We're excited about Blaise's potential as a leader to move our company forward quickly."

D'Sylva brings more than 20 years of media and marketing experience, spent working on behalf of some of the world's biggest and most successful brands.  D'Sylva inherits a deep bench of talent that oversees the planning, negotiating and activation of Anheuser-Busch's major investments in national, local and digital media, as well as premier sports marketing properties such as the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Major League Soccer (MLS), and in NASCAR.

D'Sylva most recently was Senior Director, Sales Manager at ESPN, based in Chicago.  There he was responsible for generating advertising sales revenue across multiple ESPN platforms, including television, digital, print and audio.  His team was tasked with maximizing multi-media sales opportunities across the Midwest, developing compelling and highly strategic branded content and programming.

Before joining ESPN, D'Sylva served as Director of Media Integration for Allstate Insurance Company.  There he was responsible for the company's strategic media planning and buying across multiple media channels, geographies, targets and product lines.

Prior to that, he spent nine years at Starcom MediaVest Group, where he held various positions ranging from Vice President, Media Director in the company's Chicago office and culminating in his appointment as Senior Vice President and Chief Executive, Northeast Asia.

D'Sylva started his career at Leo Burnett Worldwide, where he began as a media planner and buyer before accepting assignments as the agency's international media director in Poland and Japan.

D'Sylva holds a bachelor's degree in communications and advertising from Washington State University, and a master's degree in communications and advertising from the University of Illinois.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.3 percent share of U.S. beer sales to retailers.  The company brews the world's largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light.  Anheuser-Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer.  Anheuser-Busch is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years.  The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, and continues to operate under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo.  For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

SOURCE Anheuser-Busch