PepsiCo CEO Danny Celoni has been announced as the new CEO of Carlton & United Breweries (CUB), replacing Peter Filipovic, who announced he was retiring in July.

Filipovic spent 25 years at CUB, prior to becoming CEO, he was the Business Unit President for Australia, and CUB Sales Director. He has held a variety of roles within the company since joining as a tax graduate in 1997, including Sales Director On Premise, Commercial Finance Director and General Manager of Taxation.

Celoni is currently CEO of PepsiCo’s Australia, NZ & South Pacific business. Unlike Filipovic, he comes from a communications background – he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Communications at Western Sydney University in 1994, then commenced his beverages career with Diageo in 1996, where he rose, over a 17-year career, to become Commercial Director for Australia, NZ & South Pacific. In his time with Diageo, he also held senior executive roles in Singapore, Korea and Thailand. He then joined Real World FMCG Consulting, before moving to PepsiCo in 2018.

“Danny has built a formidable reputation across the beverages industry in Australia and Asia over 25 years,” said Robert Iervasi, Group CEO, Asahi Beverages Oceania.

“Danny’s proven ability to successfully run large and complex businesses, across alcohol and non-alcohol, was critical in our decision to recruit him to become our new CEO of CUB.

“We’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Danny over his time with PepsiCo, one of Asahi Beverages’ key strategic partners. We’ve observed first-hand his ability to understand and deliver great results for his customers, and build exceptional teams.

“CUB is a great business, with an unbelievable portfolio, and we couldn’t be more pleased that Danny will be running it. With Danny’s forward-thinking approach to business, he’s going to make a very significant contribution to building our teams, delivering on our strategies for growth, and forging great relationships with our customers and partners.”

Celoni will also join the Asahi Beverages Oceania Executive Leadership Team, reporting to Iervasi.

Celoni said: “It’s an honour to be given the opportunity to lead CUB and join Asahi Beverages. With its unrivalled beverage portfolio and commitment to innovation, I’m excited by the strategic direction and growth opportunities for the business.

“I’m particularly looking forward to working with CUB’s customers and partners as we seek to navigate the evolving COVID-normal environment and the other challenges that lie ahead.”

Celoni champions work-life balance

The accolades have been flooding social media following the announcement. Celoni has been praised for his “fantastic leadership” and “amazing stint” at PepsiCo.

PepsiCo reported a “very strong” net revenue growth of 11.6% for its third-quarter results this week amid a “volatile supply chain and cost environment”. In Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and China Region grew sales by 27% to $1.14 billion.

PepsiCo Australia has also been ranked as No.1 in this year’s Advantage Group survey of Australia’s largest FMCG companies and was recently named the ‘Employer of Choice’ for companies with more than 1000 employees at the 2021 Australian HR Awards. 

It’s the second time in five years PepsiCo Australia has won the HR award, previously winning in 2017. The award recognises employers that are raising the bar in the areas of leadership, employee engagement, communication and employee benefits.

Celoni credited the award to his HR team’s innovative approach of placing employee wellbeing at the centre of PepsiCo’s culture.

“This award recognises the people-centric culture we have at PepsiCo that continues to enable our accelerated growth. Together with our PepsiCo Way behaviours, which encourage bold thinking, collaboration and foster trust, we are creating an environment that encourages diversity, normalises flexibility and rewards our people,” he noted. 

Celoni was also one of 100 Australian CEOs to sign a public pledge to stamp out sexual harassment earlier this year.

Coordinated by the Diversity Council of Australia, the zero-tolerance for sexual harassment pledge commits CEOs to taking steps in their organisation to address sexual and sex-based harassment, to make the workplace safer for everyone.

Celoni will join CUB and Asahi Beverages in early February 2022.