MAM
PepsiCo names Ram Krishnan as CEO, international beverages
Mumbai: Global snacks and beverage company PepsiCo has promoted Ram Krishnan, currently serving as chief commercial officer, to the newly created role of CEO, international beverages and chief commercial officer.
The company also appointed Jane Wakely as executive vice president (EVP), chief consumer and marketing officer and chief growth officer (CGO), international foods.
Both executives will report to PepsiCo chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta.
Krishnan, a 15-year PepsiCo veteran, will focus on driving accelerated growth for the international beverages business, including the company’s international franchise bottlers, with an end-to-end focus on brand-building, innovation, supply chain, digitalisation, talent, and sustainability. He will also be charged with leading faster growth for the SodaStream and Beyond the Bottle businesses, as well as the Pepsi Lipton partnership, the company’s joint venture with Unilever.
This move, effective January 1, 2022, will bring PepsiCo’s critical beverage expertise and commercial capabilities into one group, with an eye toward optimising the end-to-end operating model, capital allocations and building new capabilities. Krishnan will continue to oversee the company’s e-commerce business and global commercial capabilities, said the statement.
“Ram has been an incredibly effective leader for our commercial agenda,” said Laguarta. “With this newly created role, he will bring focus and a proven formula for success to drive faster growth for our International Beverages business.”
Wakely brings to the company an intense focus on consumers, insights and building best-in-class brand and category growth strategies.
In this new role, she will focus on driving accelerated growth by elevating PepsiCo’s consumer-centricity, innovation, brand, and marketing capabilities. As CGO – international foods, Wakely will be responsible for accelerating the Positive Choices pillar of pep+ (PepsiCo Positive), which includes evolving the company’s portfolio into new spaces that are better for the planet and people by developing products with more diverse ingredients, such as plant-based proteins, nuts and seeds, and whole grains.
“Jane is a creative and commercially-oriented marketer who is passionate about purpose and innovation as critical growth levers,” said Ramon Laguarta. “She has a proven track record of success, and I am confident that with her leadership, we will take our consumer-centricity, innovation, brand, and marketing strategies and capabilities, and International Foods growth to a new level.”
Wakely joins PepsiCo with 28 years of marketing experience at Procter & Gamble and at Mars, where since 2019 she served as lead CMO and CMO of Pet Nutrition, one of the largest divisions of Mars’ $40 billion portfolio. She was previously global CMO of its chocolate division. She has operated globally and in highly complex product categories, brands, and businesses across a variety of growth, turnaround, and transformation challenges.
“PepsiCo is a marketing powerhouse known for its commitment to innovation and world-class, consumer-focused brands,” said Wakely. “I look forward to working with my future colleagues to delight consumers with new propositions and purpose-driven brands that bring pep+ to life.”
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
