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Patricio to Succeed Hees as Kraft Heinz CEO this Summer

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Miguel Patricio has been named chief executive officer of Kraft Heinz effective July 1, 2019. He will replace Bernardo Hees, who will remain at the helm of the multinational food and beverage company through June 30 to ensure a smooth 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 the board of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Chicago, Illinois-headquartered company.

incoming CEO Miguel PatricioPatricio, a native of Portugal, will join Kraft Heinz 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.

Prior to AB InBev, Patricio worked at other consumer products companies including Philip Morris, Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson in Latin America, New Jersey and Georgia.

Commenting on the pending departure of Hees, Chairman Behring said: “I would like to thank Bernardo personally, and on behalf of the board, for his many contributions to Kraft Heinz over the last six years. He helped transform the food industry by leading the acquisition of Heinz in 2013 and the merger of Kraft and Heinz in 2015. Under his tenure, we achieved industry-leading margins and sales performance in line with our US peers, developed an organization with best-in-industry quality standards, and built in-house capabilities for category management, including revenue and assortment management.”

Kraft Heinz ranks as one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, with 2018 net global sales of approximately $26 billion. Its portfolio of frozen brands includes Ore-Ida potatoes, SmartOnes and SmartMade entrees, Devour dinners and entrees, and O, That’s Good! Pizza.