Roberto Goizueta
| Roberto C. Goizueta | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Roberto Críspulo Goizueta Cantera November 18, 1931 Havana, Cuba |
| Died | October 18, 1997 (aged 65) Atlanta, Georgia |
| Nationality | Cuban |
| Known for | CEO/Chairman of Coca-Cola (1980–1997) |
Roberto Críspulo Goizueta Cantera (November 18, 1931 – October 18, 1997) was Chairman, Director, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Coca-Cola Company from August 1980 until his death in October 1997.
Roberto C. Goizueta was born on November 18, 1931 in Havana, Cuba. He was the only son of Críspulo and Aída Goizueta. His grandparents on both sides of his family had emigrated from the Basque Country to Cuba in the late 19th century. His mother's father, Marcelo Cantera, owned a profitable portion of a local sugar mill. His father, Críspulo, was an architect and a real estate investor who inherited Cantera's sugar interests.
Goizueta attended Colegio de Belén in Havana, a Jesuit secondary school and later studied for a year in the United States at the Cheshire Academy, a preparatory school in Connecticut. He graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering in 1953.
Goizueta returned to Cuba to work in his family's business in 1953. Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba, transforming the island into a communist state. While on vacation in Miami, Goizueta and his family decided to defect to the United States. A year after returning to Cuba to work in his family's business, Goizueta found himself working for the Coca-Cola bottler in Cuba after replying to an anonymous want ad in his local newspaper. A short time later, he was promoted to Chief Technical Director of five Cuban bottling plants.
After defecting to the United States, he worked for The Coca-Cola Company in Miami. He was reassigned to Nassau, Bahamas as a Chemist for the Caribbean region. In 1964, he was moved to the headquarters of the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 35, he became Vice President of Technical Research and Development. He remains the youngest person to hold this position at the company. In 1975, he was promoted to lead the Legal and External Affairs department.
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