FEMSA and Coca-Cola FEMSA announce senior leadership changes

FEMSA and Coca-Cola FEMSA have announced that John Santa Maria Otazua will retire from his position as Coca-Cola FEMSA’s Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2023. Ian Craig García, currently CEO of Coca-Cola FEMSA Brazil, will become Coca-Cola FEMSA’s Chief Executive Officer.

Otazua has had a ‘remarkable trajectory’ of 27 years at Coca-Cola FEMSA, playing various key roles as the company evolved and gew. In his role as CEO since 2014, he was instrumental in guiding Coca-Cola FEMSA through a profound operational and digital transformation that positioned the company to deliver sustainable long-term value creation, as it expanded its geographic reach to include more territories in Brazil, Guatemala, and Uruguay.

García has been an ‘outstanding member’ of the FEMSA team for 28 years, with increasing responsibilities at Coca-Cola FEMSA since 2003. Working closely with Otazua, he has been CEO of Coca-Cola FEMSA Brazil since 2016.

Concurrently, Alfonso Garza Garza will retire from his position as Chief Executive Officer of FEMSA Strategic Businesses on January 1, 2023. Constantino Spas Montesinos, currently Chief Financial Officer of Coca-Cola FEMSA, has been appointed to become Chief Executive Officer of FEMSA Strategic Businesses as of the same date.

Garza has enjoyed a career of 37 years at several of FEMSA’s business units, serving as Chief Executive Officer of our Strategic Businesses unit since 2012. At this role, Alfonso has been instrumental in the growth of our refrigeration, logistics and distribution operations, including the promising growth opportunity currently being pursued through the Envoy Solutions platform. Alfonso has also played an active leadership role in FEMSA’s pursuit of social value through his role at the FEMSA Foundation and the Board of Directors of Monterrey Tec. For his part, Montesinos joined Coca-Cola FEMSA in 2018, bringing with him extensive international and industry experience. At Coca-Cola FEMSA, he has held senior positions in Strategic Planning, New Business Development and most recently as CFO.

FEMSA participates in the retail industry through a Proximity Division operating OXXO, a small-format store chain, and OXXO Gas, a chain of retail service stations; through a Health Division, which includes drugstores and related activities; and through FEMSA’s Digital Division, which includes Spin by OXXO and OXXO Premia, among other loyalty and digital financial services initiatives.

In the beverage industry, FEMSA participates through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, as the second largest shareholder of Heineken, one of the world’s leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. FEMSA also participates in the logistics and distribution industry through its Strategic Business Unit, which additionally provides point-of-sale refrigeration and plastic solutions to its business units and third-party clients. Across its business units, FEMSA has more than 320,000 employees in 13 countries.