Yiannis Pafilis is executive vice president and president, Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific. Yiannis joined the Executive Leadership Team in 2024.

In this role, he stewards Brown‑Forman's business across Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific region, and global travel retail. Yiannis previously led Brown‑Forman’s owned distribution businesses in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Czechia/Slovakia, Belgium, and Luxembourg as well as the remaining European markets utilizing partners for distribution.

Yiannis joined Brown‑Forman in 1998 as Area Sales Director, eventually taking responsibility for the General Manager role for Greece and Cyprus in 2006. Since starting his international career in 2012, he has held several general manager and vice president, managing director roles in various international markets, including the Southeast Europe cluster, Russia, Germany, Czechia, and Poland. In 2020, Yiannis assumed leadership of the Europe Division Commercial Strategy in addition and was named senior vice president in 2023.

Before joining Brown‑Forman, Yiannis worked in various marketing roles at Audi Greece and advertising agencies. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma City University and served as an officer in the Greek military. 

Yiannis resides in Amsterdam, Netherlands, together with his wife and their daughter.