JBS N.V. has announced that Wesley Batista Filho, grandson of company founder José Batista Sobrinho, will become global CEO of the company effective January 2027.

Batista Filho has been the CEO of JBS USA since 2023, and previously also served as CEO of JBS Brazil and president of the company’s Seara business. He will take the reins of the global food company from Gilberto Tomazoni, who has served as global CEO for the past eight years — punctuating 14 total years with the company. Tomazoni will oversee the transition over the next five months then transition into the role of vice chairman of the board and senior advisor; he will also become chairman of the J&F Institute (which exists to develop the next generation of business leaders) and continue as chairman of the board of Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

Batista Filho told Reuters: “This is a transition defined by continuity. … A new CEO often needs time to understand the business and set a direction. That is not the case here. This transition should be very straightforward.”

Under Tomazoni, JBS became more diversified, expanding into additional protein categories, branded and value-added products, and biotechnology as well. Revenue grew 73% during his time at the helm, the company said.

Batista Filho began his career at JBS in 2011 as a trainee at the Greeley, Colo., beef facility, after which he moved to São Paulo, Brazil, to work in the beef export division. He led the company’s beef operations in Uruguay and Paraguay from 2012-2013, then served as president of JBS Canada in 2014 and 2015 in Calgary. The following two years, he lead JBS USA Fed Beef, the company’s largest global business unit.

In 2017, he became CEO of JBS Brazil and in 2020, he added CEO of Seara (also in Brazil) to his role. The whirlwind continued in 2022, when he became global president of operations for the company, eventually leading to Batista Filho’s return to Greeley in 2023 to become CEO of JBS USA. That year, JBS USA won Food Processing’s annual Processor of the Year award.