Biography: Roberto Goizueta
Roberto Goizueta served as the president of Coca Cola from 1979 until his death in 1987. A lot of people were surprised by his appointment because of his relative lack of experience. However his time in charge would prove to be one of the most successful periods for the company, with one notable exception.
Roberto Goizueta was born into a wealthy family in Cuba, his father was an architect and his mother came from a family that owned a sugar mill. Goizueta would go to the United States for his last year of high school and to attend Yale University from which he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. After finishing school he returned to Cuba to work at the family sugar plant for a while before leaving to take a job with the local Coca Cola bottler. He was soon promoted to be the technical director of five bottling plants in Cuba.
Everything changed for Goizueta and his family when Castro seized power in Cuba. Goizueta and his parents happened to be in the US on vacation at the time so they decided to stay. This of course meant leaving everything behind so they had to start their new lives with nothing more than what they had brought with them for their vacation. Fortunately Coke offered Goizueta a job and sent him to the Bahamas to serve as the chief chemist for the Caribbean region. He did well enough at this job that he was soon made a vice president of the company in charge of technical research and development. At the age of thirty five he remains the youngest person to ever be made a vice president by Coke.
After heading the technical development department for nearly ten years Goizueta was made the head of legal and external affairs. In 1979 he would be appointed as the president of the company when his predecessor resigned suddenly. This was somewhat of a surprising appointment, in part because of the suddenness of the previous president's resignation but also because it was assumed that they would give the job to somebody with more experience. Nevertheless Goizueta thrived in the job and soon was also made chairman of the board.
The period during which Roberto Goizueta was in charge was the time of Coke's largest expansion. It was during this time that it became a truly global brand. They also introduced several successful new products like Diet Coke. Unfortunately it was during this time that the company also made its biggest mistake which is what Goizueta is widely remembered for. The introduction of New Coke turned out the be a disaster and the company soon had to back track. Nevertheless despite this setback they did remain profitable. A heavy smoker since his teen years Goizueta would die in 1987 while in his mid fifties.