Kraft Heinz board appoints Miguel Patricio CEO

Patricio will succeed Bernardo Hess, effective July 1, 2019.

The Kraft Heinz Co., headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, said its board of directors appointed Miguel Patricio CEO, effective July 1, 2019. Patricio will succeed Bernardo Hees, who will remain CEO through 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,” said Alex Behring, chairman of Kraft Heinz’s board of directors.

A native of Portugal, 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, Kraft Heinz said.

At AB InBev, Patricio 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, Kraft Heinz noted. 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.

Before that, Patricio was AB InBev’s president of Asia Pacific from 2008 to 2012 and president of North America from 2006 to 2008. Prior to AB InBev, Patricio worked at other consumer companies, including Philip Morris, The Coca-Cola Co. and Johnson & Johnson in Latin America, New Jersey, and Georgia.

“I want to personally thank Bernardo Hees for leading the Company through its first phase,” said Marcel Herrmann Telles, a member of Kraft Heinz’s board of directors. “I’ve worked with Miguel over the course of the past 20 years, and he is a natural business leader. From attracting and nurturing the best talent to leading the turnaround of the AB InBev China business into the phenomenal success it is today, Miguel has one of the best brand-building minds in the industry.”

Hees called it an honor to serve as CEO and seeing the company through its transformation during the past six years.

“I have confidence that Miguel and the team will take Kraft Heinz to new heights,” he said.

Patricio called Kraft Heinz an “incredible company” with beloved brands.

“It will be a privilege and an honor 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,” he added.