PepsiCo Inc said on Monday that Indra Nooyi would step down as chief executive officer after 12 years at the helm and named President Ramon Laguarta as her replacement. Laguarta will take over from Ms Nooyi on October 3 and will also join the board, the company said in a statement.
Laguarta, has a 22 year experience with PepsiCo, headed global operations, corporate strategy, and public policy and government affairs in his role as president. He also served as CEO of the company’s Europe Sub-Saharan Africa division before becoming president.
Laguarta is a native of Barcelona can speak English, Spanish, French, German, Greek and Catalan. He has an M.B.A. from Spain’s ESADE business school and worked at Chupa Chups SA, a candy company based in Spain, before joining PepsiCo in 1996.
He became head of PepsiCo’s Europe and sub-Saharan Africa business. Last year he was considered as Nooyi’s No. 2 and shifted to the U.S. from Geneva with his wife, Maria. They have three sons.
Laguarta said he aims to accelerate the company’s overall growth while achieving the company’s goal for sales growth of nutritious products to outpace the rest of the portfolio by 2025.