Ramon Laguarta

Ramon Laguarta (born 1963)[1] is a Spanish businessman who is the chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo.[2] He became CEO on 3 October 2018.[3] He is the sixth CEO in the company's history and the first Spanish CEO of a large American multinational company.[4][5]

Education

Laguarta graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from ESADE Business School in Barcelona in 1985. In 1986 he received a master's degree in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.[6][7]

Career

Before joining PepsiCo he worked at Chupa Chups, a candy company based in Spain known for its lollipops.[8] Laguarta joined PepsiCo in January 1996. His first role was in the company's European business, and in 2014 became the CEO of the entire Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA) sector.[9] While working in Europe, Laguarta helped lead the acquisition in 2010 of Russian dairy and juice company Wimm-Bill-Dann, a deal valued at $5.4 billion, the company's second largest acquisition after its purchase of Quaker Oats in 2001.[10]

Laguarta was named president of PepsiCo in September 2017. He oversaw PepsiCo's Global Category Groups, its Global Operations, Corporate Strategy and Public Policy & Government Affairs functions.[4] As a result of the promotion, he moved to the United States.[11]

Laguarta was unanimously voted in as PepsiCo's next CEO on 6 August 2018, the same day Indra Nooyi announced she was stepping down.[12][13][14] He officially took over the role on 3 October 2018 and became Chairman of the Board of Directors on 1 February 2019.[14] Laguarta has been working at PepsiCo for over 20 years, his previous roles including CEO for Europe Sub-Saharan Africa, president for the PepsiCo Eastern Europe Region, commercial Vice President for PepsiCo Europe, general manager for Iberia Snacks and Juices and General Manager for Greece Snacks.[15] Since becoming CEO of PepsiCo, Laguarta named three priorities: accelerating organic revenue growth; becoming a stronger company; and becoming a better company.[16] This includes the company's effort to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent for their entire value chain over a 2015 baseline (roughly 30-35 million metric tons of GHG),[17] as well as their goals by 2025 to make 100% of their packaging recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable and use 25% recycled plastic content in all plastic packaging. Laguarta has also led attempts to reduce waste by acquiring SodaStream.[18]

In 2023, Laguarta's total compensation from PepsiCo was $26.2 million, up 8% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 648-to-1.[19]

In addition to being a member of the PepsiCo Board of Directors,[20] Ramon is a director of Visa Inc.[21] He is the Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum's Board of Stewards for the Food Systems Initiative.[22]

Personal life

Laguarta speaks English, Spanish, Catalan, French, German and Greek.[23] He is married with three children.[24]