Metacask appoints industry veteran Rob Hollands as new CEO to further rapid growth strategy

Metacask, the online platform for buying and selling high-quality spirits including whiskey and tequila, has expanded its leadership team with the appointment of a new CEO, Rob Hollands (pictured above).

Formerly Rob was Managing Director of a leading IoT consultancy and SaaS platform, where he was instrumental in the development and expansion of the business. 

With a career spanning 20 years across the worlds of digital, tech, marketing , and design, Rob has founded and led high-growth technology companies, from start-up through to exit , winning multiple awards along the way for the likes of Diageo, American Express, Nestlé, Pernod Ricard, PepsiCo and Estée Lauder Companies.

As part of Metacask’s ambitious growth plans, Rob joins to lead the Swiss HQ’s company’s unique product and services offering. Digitalising the spirits industry using innovative technology, to drive traceability, transparency and new forms of ownership. 

Metacask transforms physical products such as investor-grade casks and bottles utilising blockchain and NFTs, to deliver trust and ownership, and bring much needed visibility and efficiency to the spirits industry. 

Having NFT’s attached to the spirits secures the future of digital ownership in the business of collecting investor-grade spirits. These NFTs serve as digital deeds, with complete transparency, not just in possession and provenance, but also for the purposes of price discovery. This also means that the underlying asset can be traded digitally, and instantly on the Metacask marketplace. No more paper-based certificates to assign ownership which was previously the case.

Rob’s role will oversee the growth strategy for marketplace, Metacask’s B2C platform, as well as Trakr, a new inventory management and asset tracking SaaS solution that launches this month. Trakr enables brands, distillers, producers and warehouses to track and manage their entire process of spirits production from grain to bottle and is set to transform the entire ecosystem of the spirits industry.

Rob will oversee the growth of the global team, working with a leadership team  in the US, Singapore and South America, supporting the rapid-growing portfolio of brands.  Rob’s role also involves securing new strategic partnerships for the platform which is fast becoming the go-to destination for everyone involved in the spirits ecosystem – spirits collectors, brands, distillers and producers. 

Prior to joining Metacask, Rob was Managing Director at SharpEnd/ io.tt, where he operationally led the business as well as key accounts, including Estée Lauder Companies  and Diageo. Previously, Rob spent four years as MD at Anthem Worldwide and 9 years as Digital Director at Schawk and Anthem in Europe where he was responsible for key clients including American Express, Elizabeth Arden, Nestlé, Guinness World Record, and BP.

An experienced and highly respected leader, Rob is no stranger to the start-up world, and previously co-founded award-winning digital agency Untitled, which was sold to the SGK/ Matthews group in 2010. 

Nim Siriwardana, Co-Founder of Metacask, says “These are exciting times for us as we bring on board an experienced and innovative leader to bolster our unique proposition and support clients and partners in taking the buying and selling of high-value spirits on the blockchain to the next level. The reimagining of the spirits collector’s customer journey and the role of technology has created a seismic shift in how consumers can buy and sell spirits. 

Similarly, Trakr’s rollout as a brand-new inventory management and asset tracking solution for the industry will deliver much greater efficiencies to a variety of industries, and Rob will play a defining role in developing the future of product provenance for brands globally.”