The Coca-Cola Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Bruno Pietracci as Africa & Middle East President and Matrona Filippou as the Business Unit President for the Southern & East Africa region with effect from 1 May 2020.
Pietracci said: “While this is an extremely challenging time from a global economic perspective, Africa and the Middle East present exciting opportunities for The Coca-Cola Company to scale our capabilities and make our business stronger than before. These key regions remain an important driver of The Coca-Cola Company’s overarching growth strategy over the next decade. I look forward to helping build on The Coca-Cola Company’s strong track record of continuous innovation to leverage opportunities and create shared opportunities to enhance the prosperity of communities across our key markets the Middle East and across Africa.”
Filippou, who takes the reigns from Pietracci in her new role said: “It’s great to be back on my home turf and despite the challenges that Covid-19 presents businesses at this time, I’m optimistic that from this crisis new opportunities across the Southern & East Africa region will arise. The Coca-Cola Company remains focused on ensuring our products are delivered safely to the stores and communities, while taking every precaution to curb the further spread of the virus,” said Filippou.
Pietracci joined Coca-Cola in Brazil in 2008 as Vice President of Strategic Planning and Research. In 2010, he moved into operations to lead the Southern Brazil region. He was then appointed to lead the Central Franchise Unit, partnering with bottler Coca-Cola FEMSA to reshape business in that region and later named General Manager of the Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador markets. He went on to serve as Vice President, Operations, for the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa Group markets before heading to South Africa to take up the position of President of the Southern and East Africa business unit of The Coca-Cola Company in 2018.
Over more than a decade he has continued to build on his deep knowledge and experience of building the capabilities of the world’s biggest beverage company to build enduring strength through disciplined growth.
Throughout her more than 24 years at The Coca Cola Company, Filippou has held a variety of positions, starting out in the South African office and then gaining experience on the continent, including key markets such as Nigeria and Kenya. She was Performance & Strategy Director and Stills General Manager for the Central, East and West Africa Business Unit and General Manager in charge of Stills, Ventures & Emerging Brands for the Coca-Cola West Africa Business Unit. In 2016, Filippou led the successful execution of the largest Juice and Dairy merger and acquisition for The Coca-Cola Company on the African continent.
Building on her African experience, Filippou moved to Athens in 2018 where she has held the position of Franchise Operations Director South East Europe at The Coca-Cola Company covering countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Greece and Romania for the past two years.
Both Pietracci and Filippou look forward to working together to reinforce The Coca-Cola Company’s commitment to creating shared opportunities to enhance the prosperity of communities across African as the Company continues to play a significant role in Africa’s sustainable and inclusive growth during Covid-19 and beyond.
