The fifth installment in our continent-wise shout-out to newly appointed CEOs actually worth knowing. This one covers South America, led by an appointment that broke a genuine historical pattern at one of the most recognizable companies in the world.
Henrique Braun — The Coca-Cola Company
Braun became CEO of Coca-Cola effective March 31, 2026, succeeding James Quincey, who is moving to executive chairman after nine years running the company. Braun, 57, is the first executive of Brazilian origin to lead Coca-Cola in its history — born in California, raised in Brazil, and shaped by a career that’s given him direct operating experience across multiple regions rather than a single home market.
He joined Coca-Cola in 1996 as a trainee in global engineering, and rose through genuinely operational roles rather than a purely corporate-strategy track: president of the Brazil business unit from 2016 to 2020, president of the Latin America operating unit from 2020 to 2022, and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for all global operating units starting in 2025, before stepping into the CEO role itself.
Why he’s worth watching: Coca-Cola’s growth increasingly depends on markets outside the US and Europe, and a CEO whose formative operating experience is in Latin America rather than Atlanta headquarters is a meaningfully different vantage point for a company navigating that shift — not a symbolic change, a structural one.
Wesley Batista Filho — JBS
Batista Filho is set to become global CEO of JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company, effective January 2027 — succeeding Gilberto Tomazoni, who is stepping down after 14 years with the company, including eight as global CEO. The appointment is notable for a specific reason beyond timing: Batista Filho is the grandson of JBS founder José Batista Sobrinho and the son of former top executive Wesley Batista, making this a return to family leadership at a company that’s operated under professional, non-family CEOs in recent years.
His own career path has been genuinely operational rather than inherited in title only: he joined JBS in 2011 as an operational trainee at a Colorado beef processing facility, ran operations in Uruguay and Paraguay, led JBS Canada, then JBS Brazil, then Seara (the company’s poultry and pork business), before becoming CEO of JBS USA — the company’s largest platform by revenue — in 2023.
Why he’s worth watching: family succession at a company this size, after a period of professional management, is a genuinely uncommon structure in modern global business — whether it strengthens or complicates JBS’s decision-making will be closely watched well beyond the meat industry.
Next in this series
Oceania closes out this series, including a CEO change at the world’s largest copper producer.
