Ones to Watch: Emily Palmer Ramus
As part of Family Business Week 2023 we are profiling a series of future family business leaders who are ‘Ones to Watch’.
Emily Palmer Ramus
Chief Executive, Palmers Brewery
Perhaps working just a mile from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast helps foster a different sense of time, but Emily Palmer Ramus, Chief Executive of Palmers Brewery, clearly has a long-term perspective.
Named CEO only recently, Emily is the fifth generation descendent of John Cleeves and Robert Henry Palmer, brothers who bought an existing brewing company back in the late 19th Century. There has been beer brewing on site non-stop since 1794 (with only a brief interlude during the pandemic).
Dorset-based Palmers employs 50 people directly, and their 52 pubs (all tenanted) employ a further 1,000 or so.
While the selection of beers Palmers produces may evolve, The Dorset Pale craft keg was added a few years back, the heart of the business has remained the same. “People and custodianship are always at the heart and have been for generations”, Emily explains.
Staff service is measured in decades at Palmers. Half of the staff have been there over 10 years, with many over 20, and some over 30. In fact, a number of people in the business have been around as long as Emily can remember, and length of service is valued, she explains. “We really love celebrating those work anniversaries! Long service creates the family atmosphere at the brewery and means we have a workforce with a wealth of knowledge and breadth of experience as they’ve often held multiple roles.”
Why did she join the business? “It felt intuitive – these are the people I’ve always known, and I want to preserve what we have here and what they have been working for”, Emily says. “I feel I’m the right person to preserve, sustain and grow this business. We have a beautiful old brewery, award-winning ales and some of the best pubs in the West Country, our biggest challenge is to communicate that and also to ensure we have all the support in place to help the licensees of our pubs succeed.”
There’s a lot of pressure in taking over such a company rich in tradition and history, the only thatched brewery in the UK, also unique as they still brew using an open top copper. But Emily has been laying the foundations for her career progression carefully, with the question of “How could this benefit the family business?” often guiding her choices.
She started with a degree in biology from Bristol University, after which she did internships with two family brewers, Fullers and Timothy Taylor’s, taking advantage of a supportive community amongst brewers.
She worked for Rothschild & Co in London, first in Mergers & Acquisitions and then in Strategy and Corporate Development, reviewing and delivering strategic projects for the group. During this time Emily also attained the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting.
Her first role within the business was as non-executive Director in 2012, becoming executive Director in November 2020 and CEO in October 2023. It was a carefully managed progression because she “really wanted to get it right for the people involved – the family and the employees.”
The sense of history at Palmers seems to loom as large as the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast. “I want to keep this business going for generations to come. I want to continue to improve it, grow it and hand over to my daughter a strong business that is still brimming with exciting opportunities. To be a custodian.”
That sense of stewardship is what makes family businesses so special, Emily believes, and the younger generation coming into those businesses should be motivated by the opportunities to genuinely make a difference. “You can take decisions that really make an impact on your people and your community. You can take a long-term view – making decisions today, the effects of which could still be seen in ten or twenty years’ time. You can only do that in family business.”
Read more from about our ‘Ones to Watch’ here.