diff --git a/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy b/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy
index 03870241..6481e398 100644
--- a/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy
+++ b/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ class SemanticReleasingExecutor {
     steps.dir(steps.env.workroot) {
       steps.withCredentials([steps.usernamePassword(credentialsId: credentialsId, passwordVariable: 'GIT_PASSWORD', usernameVariable: 'GIT_USERNAME')]) {
         steps.env.GIT_CREDENTIALS = "${steps.env.GIT_USERNAME}:${steps.env.GIT_PASSWORD}"-
-        steps.env.GIT_BRANCH = branch
+        steps.env.GIT_BRANCH = "${branch}"
         steps.log.info("SemanticReleasingExecutor", "Installing semantic-release requirements...")
         steps.sh "apt-get -y update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends git apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl wget gnupg"
         steps.writeFile file: '.releaserc.json', text: steps.libraryResource(config)