Luis Montoya

Luis Montoya was President of the Latin America Beverages Division of PepsiCo until his retirement in 2020. He assumed the role in late 2007 and led the organization through a period of unprecedented growth, innovation and cultural transformation. Montoya began his PepsiCo career in 1991 as a General Manager for Peru and Ecuador. In 1993 he was promoted to General Manager for Central America based in Guatemala City position he held until 1995. During this period Montoya designed and established the first PepsiCo Joint Venture in the region. This enabled the business to achieve outstanding growth and the formation of CabCorp that later became an anchor bottler for PepsiCo. From 1995-2000 Montoya was promoted to Director of Operations and Franchise Vice President–Mexico Beverages to run different franchise businesses in Mexico. He was responsible of broadening the portfolio, expanding the Pepsi business by relaunching the brand in Northern Mexico, and of designing and implementing a major program to upgrade the S&D capabilities of the bottler system which reached ore than half a million customers. During this period Montoya had to deal with the aftermath of a major economic crisis in Mexico and a major corporate restructure in PepsiCo. In 2000 he moved to South Florida to assume the leadership of Central American and the Caribbean position he held until 2002. In these years he lead the integration of the Quaker acquisition working as leader of the post merger integration. In 2003 he was promoted to Business Unit General Manager for Northern Latin America (NOLA) which included Central America and the Caribbean, Andean and Chile) based in Lima Peru. In this period PepsiCo improved its position in Venezuela achieving market leadership by strengthening the partnership with Empresas Polar (Mendoza family) and reaching transformational alliances with CCU in Chile (Luksic group). In these years Nola became the largest contributor to Latin America growth and overall profitability in both Foods & Beverages In late 2007 he was promoted to Division President of Latin American Beverages. His responsibilities included the total franchise business of PepsiCo as well as the company owned operations for Gatorade Mexico. Montoya has been the architect of achieving significant profit and revenue growth behind an aggressive innovation agenda, driving important acquisitions that included the leading Coconut Water manufacturer (Amacoco) in Brazil and restructuring our business in Mexico that lead to the formation of a new JV in a major M&A transaction. In his position he lead business relationships with companies as AmBev (ABI) in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia, Empresas Polar from Venezuela, Postobon from Colombia, cbc in Central America, Peru, Ecuador and Caribbean, CCU in Chile, Grupo Vierci in Paraguay. Luis also has participated and/or led several global task forces related to changes in business model, best practices development and organization restructuring and his career was characterized by focus on innovation not only product related but as developer of new business models as well. Montoya’s business and people leadership was recognized in 2010 when he received the Steve Reinemund Leadership Legacy Award in 2010. Named after a former PepsiCo CEO this award is the highest leadership recognition within the company. Montoya received it for exemplary leadership and commitment to diversity and inclusion, while moving the business to new levels. Additionally, Montoya was recognized in Washington DC in April 2012 with the Award of Leadership by the Organization of American States for his role in promoting entrepreneurship among the youth of the Americas. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Montoya worked for Procter & Gamble in Peru for 6 years (1985-1991) in different marketing positions being his last Marketing Director. During his tenure in P&G Montoya held different leadership brand responsibilities in categories as Beauty Care, Health Care, Personal Care and Laundry. Montoya holds an Industrial Engineering degree from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and an MS in Industrial Administration from the Krannert School at Purdue University. He currently serves in the Board of Directors of cbc, a multinational Latin corporation with operations in the US, Central America, Jamaica , Peru , Ecuador and Argentina and R’FRSH a joint venture between cbc and Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala . He is also Vice Chairman of CARE in Peru. Montoya has been a member of the PepsiCo Executive Committee. He has also served in the Board of Directors of Pepsi Cola Venezuela (a JV between PepsiCo and Empresas Polar-Mendoza family) , in the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Grupo Gepp (Mexico Beverage Conglomerate) and in the Board of Directors of BCCUP in Chile (JV between PepsiCo and CCU-Luksic group). He. Has also been a member of the advisory committee of the Dean of Krannert Business School at Purdue University. Luis has been a keynote speaker on Leadership at the London Business School MBA program, the United Nations Youth Assembly in New York, the Krannert School at Purdue University, Wharton School of Business, among others. Furthermore he has participated as speaker and panelist in several editions of the World Economic Forum for Latin America, at the Skoll World Forum for social entrepreneurship at Oxford University and the Council of the Americas in matters like social responsibility, entrepreneurship, sustainability and water preservation.