Stuart McFarlane

Stuart McFarlane president A-B InBev UK (36), Mark Hunter chief executive Molson Coors UK (new entry), Isaac Sheps chief executive, Carlsberg UK (new entry)

Why they are on the list:

It's been a changing world for the big UK brewers with re-structures and new faces in the boardroom. Isaac Sheps became new chief executive of Carlsberg moving to the brewer's UK operation from south-east Europe, replacing Doug Clydesdale. Stuart McFarlane assumed a new title following the merger of InBev with Anheuser-Busch.

What the past year has held:

It was a difficult year for all three brewers in 2007-08, and the past 12 months has seen little change as on-trade beer volumes again declined while tight margins in the supermarkets dented off-trade profit. A-B InBev introduced a lower gravity 4% Stella as an alternative to its "reassuringly expensive" stronger 5.2% abv stablemate.

Carlsberg shocked the real-ale world with the announcement that its historic Tetley Brewery in Leeds was to close. Molson Coors at least had the comfort of knowing Carling remained the UK's best-selling lager.

Challenges ahead:

Keeping market share and attempting, somehow, to redress the relentless annual drop in beer volumes would appear to be the main goals. The cask-ale lobby will be interested to discover where Tetley is to be brewed when Leeds ceases production.