executive committee

Rafa Oliveira (Brazilian & British) is the stand-in Executive Director and CEO of JDE Peet’s. Rafa was appointed to the roles in November 2024.

Prior to JDE Peet’s, Rafa spent 10 years at The Kraft Heinz Company, where he successfully drove growth, innovation and sustainability initiatives, and developing business leaders while serving in various executive roles, including Executive Vice President and President of International Markets such as EMEA, APAC, and LATAM.

Before his tenure at Kraft Heinz, Rafa spent 10 years at Goldman Sachs Group, holding several senior leadership roles, including Executive Director in the Securities Division in the United Kingdom and in the Emerging Markets Division in Hong Kong. He began his career in Brazil, working in the Equity Research divisions at Banco Icatu and Banco BBA-Creditanstalt.

Rafa holds an International MBA from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree in economics from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil.

Fiona Hughes (Australian) is the Chief Marketing Officer of JDE Peet’s. 

Fiona has more than 20 years of international marketing and brand experience for leading FMCG companies. She has a proven track record of leading brands and teams to win through transformative marketing strategies, brand building and innovation delivery. 

Fiona previously served as the CMO for JDE (2013-2019)  where she reshaped the global brand vision, strategy and innovation maps for the portfolio of brands.  She played a fundamental role in the establishment of the company’s global brand portfolio now available in over 100 countries. 

Fiona holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) and Arts (Japanese) from Swinburne University in Melbourne. She has lived and worked in Australia, Japan, UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. 

Khaled Rabbani (Dutch) is the Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer of JDE Peet’s.

Khaled has more than 27 years of international Legal and Corporate Affairs experience, having worked in The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

Prior to joining JDE Peet’s, Khaled served as the General Counsel, Head of Compliance and interim Company Secretary of Majid al Futtaim Holding in Dubai, UAE, one of the world’s leading lifestyle, retail and real-estate companies. 

Khaled holds a Bachelor of Arts (History/International Relations) from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School. 

Johan Van Gossum (Belgian) is the Chief HR Officer of JDE Peet’s. He was appointed to this role in 2020. 

Prior to JDE Peet’s, Johan spent 15 years gaining valuable experience in a variety of leadership positions across HR, Finance, Sales, M&A and IT at ABinBev including time as VP FP&A, VP People Continuity, VP Global Transformation and VP People Europe/ International. 

Earlier in his career, he worked for Accenture on various assignments across Europe and the United States focused on organisational design, culture building and financial performance management.  

He holds a Master of Business Administration from Vlerick Leuven-Gent Management School and a Master of Law from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. 

Carolyn Adams (British) is the Chief R&D Officer. She was appointed to her role in 2022.

With over 37 years of working in FMCG, Carolyn is an experienced and accomplished Research and Development professional with a demonstrated track record of working in the Global Food & Beverage Industry and specifically innovation and technology development and deployment for Coffee & Tea. Carolyn started her career in R&D for General Foods as an R&D Process Technician, her career has primarily focused on consumer led innovation whether through product or process development. She has a true passion for product innovation and a particular deep understanding of Coffee & Tea fundamentals with a particular expertise for Instant Coffee and Ingredient Technology.

Along with Global R&D positions, Carolyn has also held successful roles within European Supply Chain, for Operations as Quality and Continuous Improvement Manager at the Banbury UK Instant coffee production plant (Mondelez International) and also European Instant Coffee Category Business Development Manager (Kraft Foods Europe).

Carolyn attended Oxford Brookes University and received a HNC in Business Finance.

Evert Meindertsma (Dutch) is the Chief Supply Officer based in Amsterdam.

Prior to becoming Chief Supply Officer, he was Operations Director for the APAC region, based in Malaysia. Having been at JDE Peet's since 2008, he has also held other key roles, notably Global R&D Director and Category Manufacturing Director of Europe.

On the supply side, he has expertise in manufacturing, operational excellence, product launches and network optimization.

Prior to joining JDE Peet's, he worked for Procter & Gamble for 12 years in Belgium, the USA and the Netherlands.

Evert holds a Master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Groningen.

Eric Lauterbach (American) is the President & CEO of Peet’s. He was appointed to his role in 2022, having originally joined the business in 2010 as head of the Consumer Division at Peet’s. In his role as President and CEO, Eric oversees employees and business across all channels including Retail, CPG, Food Service, Office Coffee, eCommerce, as well as subsidiaries including Intelligentsia Coffee and Stumptown Coffee.

Eric began his career 25 years ago at Procter & Gamble, where he progressed through various Sales and Marketing roles before becoming the head of Marketing and Business Development for a variety of early-stage eCommerce start-ups. He also held Leadership Sales positions at Clorox and Attune Foods.

Eric holds a BA from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

John Brands (Dutch) is the President of Europe of JDE Peet’s and was appointed to this position in June 2024. Since joining JDE Peet's in 2015, he has served as General Manager for both the Netherlands and the DACH region.

He has over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, and general management within the FMCG industry. He worked at Procter & Gamble as Marketing and Sales Director, at the Boston Consulting Group as a senior consultant, and at Coca-Cola as Country Director.

He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology.

Lara Brans (Dutch) is President of APAC. She was appointed to her role in 2019. She has over 28 years of experience within the FMCG industry. 

She initially joined JDE Peet's in 1998, where she was responsible for setting up its Coffee Service Unit for major events in The Netherlands, before leading its Dutch Coffee Care Unit supporting small and medium businesses. 

In 2004, she became Marketing Director, APAC Sara Lee responsible for the health and body care categories, before assuming the General Management position in the Australia and New Zealand coffee business in 2008. In 2015, she was appointed General Manager for Brazil, one of JDE Peet's largest markets by revenue, before assuming her current role on the executive leadership team. 

She holds a degree in Business Economics from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and is an accredited company director (GAICD Australian Institute of Company Directors). Today, she is based out of our Singapore regional headquarters. 

Tatiana Efremova (Russian) is the President LARMEA. She was appointed to this role in 2020. She has over 20 years of experience in the FMCG industry. She originally joined JDE Peet's in 2015 as the General Manager for Russia and under her leadership the company has achieved strong year-on-year growth and grew share in the Russian coffee market.  

Prior to joining JDE Peet's, Tatiana served as General Category Manager of Beverages for Mondelēz International. She began her career at Procter & Gamble where she served in a number of roles, including Commercial Director for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.  

She is a graduate from the Lomonosov Moscow State University.