Charles Rolls (born 1957) is a British businessman, and the co-founder and deputy chairman of the drinks brand

Fever-Tree Fevertree Drinks plc, known as Fever-Tree, is a British producer of premium drink mixers, founded by Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow in 2004. The company's name comes from its initial product, a tonic water. Their tonic was flavoured with qui ...

Early life

Rolls was born in London in 1957. Rolls earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a ...

, and an MBA from

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East ( Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (Sa ...

Career

Rolls worked for the management consultants Bain & Co. In 1997, Rolls acquired an equity stake in

Plymouth Gin Plymouth Gin is a style and brand of gin that has been distilled on the same premises on the Barbican in Plymouth, Devon, since 1793. The site of production, the Plymouth Gin Distillery, was built in 1431 and is reputed to have once been a mon ...

, becoming Managing Director. The company was sold to

Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 from the Swedish state. Absolut is one of the largest brand ...

in 2001. In 2005, he co-founded

with Tim Warrillow. They first met in a pub close to London's

Sloane Square Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the central London districts of Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The area forms a boundary betwe ...

. From 2005 to 2014, he was CEO of Fever-Tree. In May 2017, Rolls sold 3.9% of the company for £73 million. In March 2018, he sold 2.6% of the company for £82.5 million. He still owns 8.6% of the company.

Personal life

Rolls is married, with children. He owns a seafront house in

Llafranc Llafranc () is one of three coastal towns belonging to the municipality of Palafrugell, province of Girona, Spain, the other two being Calella de Palafrugell and Tamariu. It is part of the Costa Brava, the coastal region of northeastern Cataloni ...

on Spain's

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (, ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Whilst sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava, it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeast o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls, Charles Living people British company founders Alumni of Imperial College London INSEAD alumni 1957 births