Hispanic Woman Gains Admission To Boys’ Club

Lewis Lazare: On Wednesday, the man responsible for orchestrating what may be the most embarrassing parade of ads ever to appear in the annual Super Bowl of Advertising finally took the fall for that debacle at brewing giant Anheuser-Busch.
Bob Lachky is leaving his longtime post as vice president of brand management to take on the newly created post of executive vice president, global industry development, in which he will represent A-B with alcohol industry groups nationally and abroad. A-B described Lachky’s new job as a “promotion,” but it clearly leaves him in a much less powerful position than he had overseeing advertising for all A-B beer brands.
A-B tapped an insider, Marlene V. Coulis, to replace Lachky. Coulis, a 13-year veteran of the brewery, becomes the first woman and the first Hispanic to head up A-B’s marketing efforts. She had been vice president of marketing planning and research and customer satisfaction. But sources were perplexed by her selection. “She was a woman in man’s club at the brewery and never had any real clout,” said one Chicago ad executive who knew Coulis.