The Coca-Cola Company has just announced that Luis Felipe Avellar will become the president of the Africa operating unit for the beverage conglomerate, effective from the first day of September 2025.
Luis Avellar currently serves as president of the company’s Mexico operations, which are part of the Latin America operating unit.
Felipe Avellar is therefore succeeding Luisa Ortega, who, as previously announced, is taking a new role as president of the Coca-Cola Company’s European operating unit.
From here, Luis Avellar will report to Coca-Cola Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Henrique Braun.
“Luis has had an outstanding career that has included extensive leadership roles in our Latin America operations,” Braun said.
“Luis also has experience working for our company in Africa, and I’m excited to see him return to Johannesburg to build on the system’s ongoing work to serve the growing African market.”
Luis Felipe Avellar, aged 49, started his career at Coca-Cola in 2002 as a finance specialist in Brazil.
Later, Avellar went on to serve in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility in Brazil before being named general manager of the Brazil South Region in 2016.
In 2019, he took a new role as vice president and general manager for Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg.
Two years later, he returned to Latin America to serve as president of Brazil and South Cone operations. He was named to his current role in Mexico in 2023.
Luis Avellar began his career in 1998 in the finance function with SC Johnson in Brazil.
Avellar earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.
The new Coca-Cola Africa’s Head of Operating unit later earned an executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) in finance from the same university.
Most recently, he completed the Advanced Management Program at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE) Business School of Barcelona in Spain.