PepsiCo appoints next general counsel and corporate secretary

PepsiCo has appointed David Flavell executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective March 1.

Flavell is at present senior vice president, deputy general counsel and chief compliance and ethics officer with the company. He will succeed Dave Yawman, who is leaving PepsiCo after more than 22 years to pursue other interests. Yawman will stay on until Flavell takes up his new post to help with the transition.

Flavell joined PepsiCo in 2011 and has filled senior legal roles such as general counsel for Frito-Lay North America and the Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America businesses. Before moving to PepsiCo, he was general counsel for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East with Danone, based in Shanghai. Before that he spent a decade with Australian law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth where he became a corporate and antitrust partner.

Yawman took on his current role leading PepsiCo’s global legal and compliance and ethics functions in November 2017. During his more than two decades at the company, he has held positions including overseeing global government affairs & public policy and senior vice president and deputy general counsel for PepsiCo and general counsel for North America and corporate.

Yawman was also previously PepsiCo’s chief compliance and ethics officer and general counsel of North America beverages, Quaker Foods North America and Latin America beverages. Before joining PepsiCo in 1998, he was an associate with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.

‘On behalf of everyone at PepsiCo, including our board of directors, I want to sincerely thank Dave not only for his years of judicious guidance that steered our company through many complex issues, but also for his unwavering dedication to his colleagues and to doing what is right,’ PepsiCo chair and CEO Ramon Laguarta says in a statement. ‘Dave will always be an honored member of our PepsiCo family, and we know his steadfast values, innate curiosity and unassailable character will serve him well wherever his journey takes him next.

‘At the same time, we have no doubt that David Flavell is the ideal person to take over this important role. David is a highly respected leader with a decade of experience at PepsiCo… I look forward to working with him even more closely in the years ahead.’

PepsiCo was named governance team of the year (large cap) and won the best ESG reporting category at the Corporate Governance Awards in November.