Eugene Willemsen

Eugene Willemsen is Chief Executive Officer, Africa, Middle East, South Asia. Since 2015, he has served on the PepsiCo executive committee, reporting to the Chairman and CEO.

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world and generated more than $64 billion in net revenue in 2018, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Over the past two decades, Eugene has earned a reputation as a transformative leader who can harness the power of diverse teams to create high-performing businesses and some of the world’s most resonate brands.

Most recently, Eugene served as Chief Executive Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa. From 2015 to 2019, he served as Executive Vice President of Global Categories & Franchise Management where he was responsible for the strategic direction of PepsiCo’s global categories and brands as well as PepsiCo’s global commercial functions, during which he oversaw a period of strong growth.

Prior to that, Eugene led the company’s global tea joint venture with Unilever, which operates in roughly 120 countries worldwide, following more than a decade leading PepsiCo businesses in Europe. He has served as SVP, general manager for PepsiCo’s South East Europe business, overseeing our operations in 17 countries, including Turkey; SVP, Commercial for PepsiCo Europe, heading up the Marketing & Sales functions across Europe for all lines of business; SVP, general manager for PepsiCo Northern Europe; and General Manager of PepsiCo’s snack business in the Benelux and Belgium. Eugene joined PepsiCo from Unilever in 1995.