About

Throughout his high-powered in-house career at PepsiCo, vice president and general counsel for Western Europe and government affairs for Southern Europe, John Rigau has contributed significantly to the growth of the group. In 1992 he became the first in-house counsel at PepsiCo in Spain, taking up the challenge of creating a legal department for the Spanish branch. Now he leads a 17-strong legal team. ‘Basically I created a legal function from scratch, which was a very big achievement. I have developed most of the PepsiCo Western Europe in-house lawyers; I introduced a cross-efficient law firm management system and I have made collaboration and cross-country best practice sharing’. Rigau is also a member of the European executive team. During the last two decades, he has held the role of the legal director of Pizza Hut and KFC in South Europe and Africa and food legal director for continental Europe (excluding UK). He has led the legal elements of most of the acquisitions of PepsiCo in Europe; having worked on acquisitions in France, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. Operating in a highly regulated area, he is constantly faced with new regulatory challenges. The regulations affecting the company’s products and advertising, the restriction on sugar and fat have been big hurdles for the PepsiCo legal department and Rigau has taken wide-reaching initiatives to overcome them: ‘Connecting with authorities and regulators explaining that we, as a company, want to be part of the solution and not of the problem. We engaged with many trade associations to promote healthier lifestyles. We formulate our products to make them become healthier’.