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Leadership appointments announced at Kraft Heinz
All five appointments are internal, with each new role due to commence at the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year when Abrams-Rivera also assumes his position.
It was announced in August 2023 that Abrams-Rivera would be stepping up from his role as North America president to replace the outgoing Miguel Patricio as chief executive. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the group owns a number of brands that operate in the UK.
As was announced at the time, Pedro Navio will take on the role of North America president from the start of next year, having previously served as president of taste, meals, and away from home for the continent. With the business since 2017, he spent more than 15 years with Red Bull prior to joining Kraft Heinz.
Joining Abrams-Rivera and Navio on the executive leadership team will be Willem Brandt, Bruno Keller, Cory Onell and Diana Frost. Brant has been elevated to role of president for Europe and Pacific developed markets, while Keller will serve as president for west and east emerging markets. Both have extensive experience in the food manufacturing sector and have impressed in their previous roles with Kraft Heinz.
Meanwhile, Onell was promoted to the role chief omnichannel sales and Asia emerging markets officer, stepping up from president of US sales, and Frost was elevated to chief growth officer. Frost has been with Kraft Heinz since 2020, most recently as chief growth officer for North America.
Kraft Heinz ‘committed to people development’
Reflecting on the five appointments to the leadership team, Abrams-Rivera said that he was “incredibly proud” to be able promote from within, reflecting “the talent and focus on people development at Kraft Heinz”.
“Over the past four years under Miguel’s leadership, we’ve made great progress and now have a solid foundation to build our future,” said Abrams-Rivera.
“Our strategic plan maps our ‘jobs to be done’ in each of our ‘must-win’ markets and defines the areas where we believe we need to focus to accelerate our growth. Our updated structure is designed to help us activate that strategy – with a focus on profitable growth and a dynamic omnichannel plan.”
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