Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo
Ramon
Laguarta is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and
Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo. PepsiCo products are
enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in
more than 200 countries and territories around the world.
PepsiCo generated more than $91 billion in net revenue in
2023, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient
foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos,
Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and
SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide
range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many
iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in
estimated annual retail sales.
Ramon,
a 25-year PepsiCo veteran, has served as CEO since 2018,
and Chairman of the Board since 2019. As Chairman and CEO,
he has begun pivoting the company toward accelerated
growth, embracing a new corporate mission—to Create More
Smiles with Every Sip and Every Bite—and adopting a new
vision that captures PepsiCo’s competitive spirit, intense
focus, and shared values: to Be the Global Leader in
Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo
Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end
transformation that puts sustainability and human capital
at the center of how we will create value and growth by
operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring
positive change for planet and people.
To
help achieve these aims, Ramon is positioning the company
to become Faster, Stronger, and Better: Faster by being
more consumer-centric and investing to accelerate topline
growth and winning in the marketplace; Stronger by
transforming its capabilities and culture, with a focus on
digitalizing the company, embracing new ways of working,
and developing talent; and Better by continuing to
integrate Purpose into its business strategy and brands,
while advancing social equity in the company and its
communities.
As
part of this drive to build a Better company, Ramon has
pushed PepsiCo to embrace a bold purpose—helping to build
a more sustainable food system—with a focus on becoming
PepsiCo Positive by delivering better outcomes for people
and the planet. As part of this agenda, Ramon has
spearheaded PepsiCo’s ambitious steps to mitigate the
impacts of climate change and the visionary Beyond the
Bottle strategy, which aims to offer consumers a range of
great-tasting beverages, while making the company’s
packaging more sustainable and fueling future growth. This
strategy includes the acquisition of SodaStream, the
world's leader in at-home sparkling beverage preparation,
and complements the company’s sustainable packaging
vision, including efforts to develop fully recyclable or
compostable packaging materials.
Under
Ramon’s leadership, the company is also adopting new
leadership behaviors that are focused on driving high
performance and building competitive advantage. These
behaviors include: be consumer-centric; act as owners;
focus and get things done fast; voice opinions fearlessly,
raise the bar on talent and diversity; celebrate success;
and act with integrity.
Prior
to becoming CEO, Ramon was President of PepsiCo. In this
role, he was responsible for shaping the company’s
corporate strategy, working closely with business units to
deliver top-line growth, driving productivity to enable
this growth, and investing in new areas of disruptive
innovation. In this capacity he oversaw PepsiCo's Global
Category Groups; its Global Operations, Corporate
Strategy, and Public Policy & Government Affairs
functions; and The PepsiCo Foundation.
Between
2015 and 2017, Ramon served as Chief Executive Officer of
the sector formerly known as Europe Sub-Saharan Africa
(ESSA), one of PepsiCo’s most complex businesses, with
responsibility for leading the company’s beverage, food
and snacks business in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. In
that role, he successfully transformed ESSA’s beverage
portfolio, developed the company’s juice business, and
advanced the company’s sustainability mission.
Prior
to serving as CEO of ESSA, Ramon held a variety of
positions of increasing responsibility in Europe,
including leading the acquisition and successful
integration of the company’s dairy business in Russia.
Before joining PepsiCo in 1996, he worked for Chupa Chups,
S.A., a Spanish leading confectionery company, where he
held a number of international roles in Asia, Europe, the
Middle East, and the United States.
In
addition to being a member of the PepsiCo Board of
Directors, Ramon also currently serves as a director of
Visa Inc. He also currently serves as the Co-Chair of the
World Economic Forum’s Board of Stewards for the Food
Systems Initiative.
Ramon
is a native of Barcelona and holds an MBA from ESADE
Business School in Spain and a Master’s in International
Management (M.M.) from Thunderbird School of Global
Management. He and his wife, Maria, are the proud parents
of three sons.