Kraft Heinz Names Pedro Navio North America President, Reorganizes Geographies
As earlier reported, Carlos Abrams-Rivera, who currently is Kraft Heinz’s president of North America, will become company-wide CEO on Jan. 1. This week, Kraft Heinz named his replacement and reorganized its geographical regions.
Pedro Navio is Abrams-Rivera’s replacement as an executive vice president and president of North America. He’s been with Kraft Heinz since 2017 and currently is president of “Taste, Meals, and Away From Home in North America.” Prior to Kraft Heinz, Navio spent more than 15 years at Red Bull, most recently as CEO of Latin America.
Second, to drive international growth, the company is dividing its international business into three zones:
- Europe and Pacific Developed Markets, which will include Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.
- West and East Emerging Markets, including LATAM, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.
- Asia Emerging Markets, which will include its Asia businesses outside of Japan and South Korea.
No leaders were named to any of those geographic markets. But in conjunction with those changes, Rafael Oliveira, current president of international markets, will take on an advisory role to support the new structure transition and will depart the company next March.
The company also is establishing global leadership teams for its growth and omnichannel functions. All changes will be effective at the beginning of fiscal year 2024.
About the Author
Dave Fusaro
Editor in Chief
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.