Indra Nooyi relinquishes role as PepsiCo CEO after 12 years

Ramon Laguarta to be the new PepsiCo CEO

PepsiCo’s chief executive officer (CEO) Indra Nooyi (pic) will step down, effective Oct 3, 2018. Completing a 12 year stint she will be replaced by Ramon Laguarta who is currently president of PepsiCo.

Ramon has been with PepsiCo for 22 years. The rest of the senior leadership remains the same.

Nooyi will stay on as chairman until early 2019 to facilitate a smooth transition. When helming the company as CEO, PepsiCo delivered strong results including a shareholder return of 162% from 31 December 2006 to 31 December 2017, and a net revenue growth of US$35 billion in 2006 to US$63.5 billion in 2017, a compound annual growth rate of 5.5%.

According to presiding director Ian Cook, who speaks on behalf of PepsiCo’s board of directors, Nooyi also grew revenue more than 80%, outperforming peers and “adding a new billion-dollar brand almost every other year”.

As such, US$1,000 invested in PepsiCo in 2006 is worth more than two-and-a-half times that amount today, Cook explained.

In Nooyi’s time as CEO, PepsiCo also grew its portfolio in Good for You and Better for You options from about 38% of revenue in 2006 to roughly 50% in 2017. In addition it also tripled its investments in research and development.

Her replacement, Ramon is also well versed with the industry, overseeing global operations, corporate strategy, public policy and government affairs since September 2017.

Prior to that, he served as president, PepsiCo Eastern Europe region and served in a variety of sales, marketing and other commercial roles across Europe.

“Leading PepsiCo has truly been the honour of my lifetime, and I’m incredibly proud of all we have done over the past 12 years to advance the interests not only of shareholders, but all our stakeholders in the communities we serve,” said Nooyi.

Meanwhile Ramon added that he was humbled and privileged to be appointed the next CEO.

“I want to thank the Board of Directors for the confidence they have placed in me with their decision,” he said.

In April, Nooyi revealed that PepsiCo’s share of voice had “fallen dramatically relative to its key competitor, which substantially stepped up its media spending on colas over the past two years.

This saw the brand tightening and elevating brand communications by launching the Pepsi Generations campaign, which supports all brands under the Pepsi umbrella such as Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Zero Sugar. This led to the company “more effectively” leveraging media investment across its full Pepsi portfolio.

PepsiCo revealed that this year it would be more focused on Pepsi, Gatorade and DEW in terms of advertising expenditure.


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