New Head For Kraft Heinz Company
The Kraft Heinz Company has appointed Miguel Patricio (pictured above) as chief executive effective July 1, 2019. He will succeed Bernardo Hees, who will remain as chief executive through to June 30, 2019, to ensure a seamless transition.
“Miguel is a proven business leader with a distinguished track record of building iconic consumer brands around the globe, driving top-line revenue growth through a focus on consumer-first marketing, innovation, and people development,” says Alex Behring, chairman of Kraft Heinz.
A native of Portugal, Miguel Patricio will join the company after a successful career spanning two decades at Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), where he served as part of the executive leadership team in various positions, driving organic growth and industry-leading margins.
At AB InBev, he served as the global chief marketing officer from 2012 to 2018. In this role, he helped develop and implement a strategic playbook for global brands Corona, Budweiser and Stella Artois, accelerating organic sales growth to high single digits. This represented more than one-third of AB InBev’s organic growth and accounted for more than 20% of AB InBev’s 2018 year-end global revenues. In his final year as chief marketer, AB InBev was the most awarded brand owner at Cannes Lions 2018, the global benchmark for effective creative marketing communications.
Prior to that, Miguel Patricio was AB InBev’s president of Asia Pacific from 2008 to 2012 and president of North America from 2006 to 2008, providing him with deep experience in growing businesses in developed and emerging markets.
“Kraft Heinz is an incredible company with iconic brands that are loved around the world,” says Miguel Patricio. “It will be a privilege and an honour to lead such a talented group of employees as we focus on the consumer to capitalize on the growth opportunities that exist in the rapidly evolving food industry.”
Kraft Heinz Company is one of the largest global food and beverage manufacturers, with 2018 net sales of approximately $26 billion.
