Dive Brief:
- Fomento Económico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V., parent of Latin American c-store giant Oxxo, has appointed Jose Antonio Fernández Garza-Lagüera its next CEO, according to a company announcement.
- Garza-Lagüera, CEO of FEMSA’s retail division, will assume the company’s top leadership position on Nov. 1. He’ll replace FEMSA chairman Jose Antonio Fernández Carbajal, who has led the company on an interim basis since former CEO Daniel Rodríguez Cofré stepped down in summer 2023.
- Garza-Lagüera will take over as FEMSA continues its first-ever expansion into the U.S., a move that has become one of the central talking points in the c-store industry over the past year.
Dive Insight:
Although Cabajal has been interim CEO for nearly two years, FEMSA’s Corporate Practices and Nominations Committee officially launched a search for its next leader earlier this year by creating a special committee to oversee the process. That committee was led by Ricardo Saldívar, chairman of FEMSA’s CPNC, and included several other board and CPNC members. FEMSA also worked with a third-party firm as well as various advisors and specialists on its CEO search.
The search has officially concluded with Garza-Lagüera’s selection. Carbajal will remain FEMSA’s executive chairman after the shift commences.
“With his strategic focus and assertive, results-oriented leadership style, Jose Antonio will guide FEMSA into a new era of economic and social value creation, with a strong drive for growth, innovation, and sustainability,” FEMSA said in its announcement.
Garza-Lagüera joined FEMSA in 2011 in sales and operations and went on to hold several roles across multiple teams, including director of strategic planning at Oxxo and general manager of Coca-Cola FEMSA Central America. He became CEO of FEMSA’s retail division in November 2023, according to his LinkedIn bio. In this role, he’s led a team of more than 180,000 employees and overseen the company’s more than 28,000 convenience stores in 11 countries in the Americas and Europe, over 4,300 pharmacies in four Latin American markets, and more than 550 fuel stations in Mexico, according to the announcement.
“I take on this challenge with humility, enthusiasm and a deep commitment,” Garza-Lagüera said in a LinkedIn post on Thursday. “I am convinced that, with the talent and dedication of all of us who are part of FEMSA, we will continue to build on what has brought us here, creating value and writing together the next chapter of our history.”
Garza-Lagüera was one of the driving forces behind FEMSA acquiring Delek US Holdings’ 249 convenience stores across Texas, Arkansas and New Mexico in late 2023. Store conversions began earlier this year, with a focus on bringing Oxxo’s food programs to the U.S. The executive has said that FEMSA wants to become a “super regional” retailer similar to Wawa, QuikTrip and Casey’s.
“They’re not obsessed with big M&A,” Garza-Lagüera said earlier this year. “They’re obsessed with getting the value proposition right and expanding organically. That’s what we want to do.”
