Cott Corp. has named Juan R. Figuereo chief financial officer. He succeeds Tina Dell’Aquila, who had served as interim CFO.
Figuereo joins the Toronto-based soft drink maker from Wal-Mart International, where since 2003 he served as vice president for mergers and acquisitions, leading its international growth strategy through acquisitions, partnerships, and joint ventures in global markets.
Earlier, he spent 15 years with PepsiCo in a variety of international finance and general management roles, first within the Pepsi-Cola organization and then in the Frito Lay business. Figuereo had CFO duties for Frito Lay in Southern Europe and for Pepsi-Cola in Brazil and Latin America. He also spent three years as managing director of Frito Lay Dominicana, where he was responsible for all business operations in the Caribbean.
“Juan’s extensive global experience and his hands-on leadership of financial turnarounds is a perfect fit for Cott at this stage in our company’s evolution,” said chief executive officer Brent Willis, in a statement.
In hiring Figuereo, Cott dipped into the executive ranks of its most important customer. Last year, Cott’s sales to Wal-Mart Stores and its affiliates accounted for about 38 percent of total revenue; in fact, Wal-Mart was the only customer that accounted for more that 10 percent of revenue in fiscal 2006.