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FACTBOX: From coffee to booze: Rafael Oliveira, the new boss of Heineken

Heineken has named Rafael Oliveira as its new CEO, ending a months-long search for a successor to Dolf van den Brink. The appointment marks the first time the global brewer has chosen an external executive to lead the company.

June 23, 2026

Reuters

FACTBOX: From coffee to booze: Rafael Oliveira, the new boss of Heineken

FILE PHOTO: A logo of brewer Heineken is seen on a building at the headquarters in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands July 8, 2024.

Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters

Heineken HEIN.AS appointed Rafael Oliveira as its new CEO on Tuesday, ending a months-long search for a successor to Dolf van den Brink, who led the world's No.2 brewer for six years since 2020 before he resigned in January.


Oliveira joins from JDE Peet's, one of the world's largest coffee companies, where he has been CEO since 2024. He is the first executive to be appointed from outside Heineken's ranks.


Here's what to know about him:


  • He began his career in Brazil in the equity research divisions at Banco Icatu and Banco BBA-Creditanstalt

  • From 2004 to 2014, he worked at Goldman Sachs in senior leadership positions

  • Before JDE Peet's, Oliveira spent a decade at The Kraft Heinz Company KHC.O, rising to President of International Markets, having started as CEO for Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in 2004

  • In November 2024, he was appointed CEO of JDE Peet's

  • Following Keurig Dr Pepper's acquisition of JDE Peet's, in April 2026 he was appointed to lead KDP's KDP.O planned new global coffee business

  • A Brazilian national, Oliveira studied economics at Pontificia Universidade Católica in São Paulo and earned an international MBA at the University of Chicago

  • Oliveira will have a lot to prove as a beer industry and company outsider, ING analysts said in a note to investors


-Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Emma Rumney; Editing by Matt Scuffham/Reuters

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