PURCHASE, N.Y., March 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP) today announced that Steven Williams, currently senior vice president and chief commercial officer for Frito-Lay's U.S. operations, has been appointed to the role of chief executive officer of PepsiCo Foods North America (PFNA), which includes Frito-Lay North America (FLNA) and Quaker Foods North America (QFNA), effective immediately. Williams replaces Vivek Sankaran who will depart the company on April 12, 2019 to become president and chief executive officer of Albertsons Companies, Inc.
Williams, a highly experienced and accomplished PepsiCo executive, was most recently responsible for leading FLNA's customer, field, and foodservice sales teams, go-to-market strategy and execution, and overseeing an organization of more than 29,000 employees. Previously, he served as division vice president for the Eastern Division of Frito-Lay; as global SVP of PepsiCo's Walmart business; and as head of sales for a number of PepsiCo's largest food and beverage brands. Williams joined PepsiCo in 2001 as part PepsiCo's acquisition of the Quaker Oats Company, which he joined in 1997. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Central Oklahoma and completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.
"Steven is the ideal leader for our North America food businesses, and his appointment is a testament to our strong bench of talent," said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta. "He has deep knowledge of the industry and our business, and we will greatly benefit from his inspirational leadership, broad customer knowledge, intimacy with consumer trends, and experience developing talent as we build on our already strong foundation."
Laguarta continued: "Steven's appointment comes as Vivek, one of our respected executives and friends, begins another exciting chapter in his career. Under Vivek's direction, Frito-Lay expanded its position as a category leader, introduced many new and successful products and delivered excellent performance. We have benefited from Vivek's strategic vision and many contributions over the last decade, and are pleased to continue to work with him as he transitions to join one of our largest North America customers."
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $64 billion in net revenue in 2018, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Convenient Foods and Beverages by Winning with Purpose. "Winning with Purpose" reflects our ambition to win sustainably in the marketplace and embed purpose into all aspects of the business. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com
Cautionary Statement
Statements in this communication that are "forward-looking statements" are based on currently available information, operating plans and projections about future events and trends. Terminology such as "estimate," "expect," "may," "plan," "position," "will" or similar statements or variations of such words and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: changes in demand for PepsiCo's products, as a result of changes in consumer preferences or otherwise; changes in laws related to the use or disposal of plastics or other packaging of PepsiCo's products; changes in, or failure to comply with, applicable laws and regulations; imposition or proposed imposition of new or increased taxes aimed at PepsiCo's products; imposition of labeling or warning requirements on PepsiCo's products; PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively; failure to realize anticipated benefits from PepsiCo's productivity initiatives; failure to successfully complete or integrate acquisitions and joint ventures into PepsiCo's existing operations or to complete or manage divestitures or refranchisings; changes in estimates and underlying assumptions regarding future performance that could result in an impairment charge; increase in income tax rates, changes in income tax laws or disagreements with tax authorities; PepsiCo's ability to recruit, hire or retain key employees or a highly skilled and diverse workforce; loss of, or a significant reduction in sales to, any key customer; disruption to the retail landscape, including rapid growth in hard discounters and the e-commerce channel; climate change or water scarcity, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change or water scarcity; or other factors that may adversely affect the price of PepsiCo's publicly traded securities and financial performance.
For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo's actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
