Matthew Fergusson-Stewart

Matthew Fergusson-Stewart is an Australian living in Singapore, where he is the Asia Pacific regional brand ambassador for Glenfiddich, distilled by William Grant & Sons. In January 2017 he was named the "ICONS of Whisky" Scotch Whisky Brand Ambassador of the Year by Whisky Magazine.

Early life and education

Born in 1976 and raised in Perth, Australia, to a primarily Scottish ancestry, Matthew Fergusson-Stewart was the younger of two children. His father ran an engine reconditioning business which he'd founded, and Fergusson-Stewart's mother ran the office.

Fergusson-Stewart was the 4th generation of his family to enroll at Guildford Grammar School. At age 17, he spent a year in Thailand on an exchange program. The experience created a lifelong interest in Asia. After Thailand, he enrolled at the University of Western Australia. Two years later he transferred to Edith Cowan University, where he double majored in both Marketing and International Business, eventually graduating with First Class Honours in Management. He had his first taste of single malt scotch whisky after a celebratory dinner on the eve of his graduation. He described it as "a revelation," and reported that it set him on the path towards his eventual career.

Career

In July 2002, Fergusson-Stewart went to work for US defense contractor Raytheon, in marketing and later moving into business development.

In 2005 he took a position at Capitalis as a consultant. His supervisor at Capitalis required everyone on his team to have a personal interest listed in their professional development plans, so Fergusson-Stewart joined the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. The organization did not have a state manager for Western Australia, so Fergusson-Stewart took that role. Fergusson-Stewart grew the Society’s chapter in Perth from ten to approximately two hundred members.

In January 2008 he took a position with the Government Employees Superannuation Board. While working there, he got engaged to a woman from Singapore, eventually resigning his job and moving to Singapore to be with her. In Singapore, Fergusson-Stewart set out to find a job related to the whisky industry, but found it difficult to with no full-time whisky experience in-country. Instead he founded Stewart's Whisky Consultancy, which enabled him to do freelance consulting work. Soon after, Stewart's Whisky Consultancy acquired Singaporean whisky bar The Auld Alliance as a client.

In October 2012, Fergusson-Stewart took a full-time job as The Auld Alliance's operations manager.

In July 2013, after four years in Singapore (nine months at The Auld Alliance), Fergusson-Stewart was recruited by Glenfiddich working as the brand ambassador for Southeast Asia. While at the company, he co-founded the online whisky community Dram Full, which now has about 9,000 members worldwide and is still growing. He is currently Glenfiddich's regional brand ambassador for Asia Pacific, after being promoted to the role in April 2016. In his current role, he spends fifty to sixty percent of his time traveling, speaking about whisky and promoting Glenfiddich in the Asia Pacific region.