Romain Apert will become a member of Heineken’s executive team from 15 May 2026, departing his current position as chief information officer (CIO) for Mars Petcare.
Taking on the role of chief digital and technology officer, Apert will succeed Ronald den Elzen, who departs the business after 31 years.
Elzen joined the drinks giant in 1995 as a finance management trainee and during his time held a variety of finance roles. In 2015, he became managing director of Heineken USA, before later being appointed Heineken’s first chief digital and technology officer.
“Ronald retires from Heineken after an extraordinary 31-year career across five countries in Europe and the Americas and across 6 distinct functions. His contributions to HEINEKEN’s success in the past three decades through his deep knowledge of the company and portfolio, his passion and incredible people skills, will be greatly missed. I wish Ronald all the best in his future endeavours,” said Dolf van den Brink, chairman of the executive board and CEO of Heineken.
An engineer by training, Apert will join the business from his current role at Mars, where he has served for more than two decades. During his tenure, he held global CIO positions across the Mars business and, most recently, served as CIO for its pet care division. In that role, he led a multi‑year digitalisation‑at‑scale strategy, combining ERP modernisation, strong data foundations, and capability building to support growth and productivity.
He has also sponsored dozens of high‑impact digital use cases across supply, commercial and consumer domains, including AI‑enabled diagnostics and is steering one of the sector’s most ambitious ERP implementation programmes.
Commenting on the new recruit, Brink added: “I am delighted to welcome Romain to the Heineken family. He joins Heineken with deep international experience leading large-scale digital transformation, data and technology strategy, and complex change across global businesses. Romain will be partnering across the executive team, advancing Heineken’s EverGreen 2030 strategy through the further deployment of the company’s Digital Backbone, and scaling value from data and AI. He is known for combining operational rigour with practical innovation and a people‑centred leadership style, and is an excellent fit with the Heineken culture.”
This leadership hire follows news of Brink’s planned departure, with the CEO set to exit the business later this year.
