Pepsi announces new organization and vice president

Pepsi has announced the creation of a new North American organization focused on speeding efforts to help historically marginalized businesses and communities overcome injustices.

The move is part of Pepsi's racial equity plan, which will invest $570 million over five years to enhance Black and Hispanic participation and provide greater financial opportunities for both, which was unveiled in 2020.

The new Multicultural Business and Equity Development Organization will work across PepsiCo's beverage and convenience food businesses in North America, integrating work streams aimed at addressing a variety of business and people priorities into a single-team approach that will allow the company to drive sustained change and scale faster across its North American businesses.

Derek Lewis, the inaugural president of Pepsi's Multicultural Business and Equity Development, will lead the new Multicultural Business and Equity Development Organization. Lewis has worked with the soft-drink company for more than three decades, and in his new position, he will focus on end-to-end business inequalities.

Lewis will report to Kirk Tanner, PepsiCo Beverages North America CEO, and Steven Williams, PepsiCo Foods North America CEO.

“To take the next step in its Racial Equality Journey, PepsiCo is calling on one of its top executives to lead an organization embedded in the company’s two largest businesses with a focus on providing new educational opportunities, building up small businesses and creating rewarding job opportunities in an effort to support underserved businesses and communities,” Tanner said.  “This is a significant move, which we believe will increase engagement and impact internally with employees and externally with consumers and enable greater progress for the future.”

Lewis was most recently President of PepsiCo Beverages North America's South Division, where he was involved in the company's broader diversity and community engagement agenda, including leading the creation and expansion of Pepsi Stronger Together, a series of grassroots initiatives that provide tailored programming support to communities across the country.

He also led the "She Got Now" internship program, which provides job chances for female HBCU students, as well as the Historically Better Gala, which honors Black trailblazers. Derek was previously the South Business Unit's senior vice president and general manager at Pepsi Beverage Company (SBU). The SBU, which includes businesses in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, generated $2.8 billion in yearly sales under his supervision. Mr. Lewis took over as CEO of PBC in March 2008 and was responsible for all elements of the company's operations in the southern United States.