After 108 years of being in the country and almost three decades since the business was led by a Filipino, the global beverage brand recently announced homegrown and returning Filipino talent, Tony Del Rosario as the next president of Coca-Cola Philippines and vice-president of franchise operations for Coca-Cola East Region (PH, Vietnam, and Cambodia) effective Jan. 1, 2021.
With over 20 years of experience within the Coca-Cola system both locally and internationally, Tony is set to deliver on the company’s ‘emerging stronger’ global strategy announced earlier this year.
His main focus is to further cement Coca-Cola Philippines’ strong foothold, not only in the country, but also across ASEAN–driving further growth through consumer-centric brands and continuously making a positive difference in the local communities. As president, Tony will work on the strategic business objectives in partnership with the Bottling Investment Group leads for these markets.
“The Coca-Cola business in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia are all thriving and vibrant, despite the challenges we faced recently. I am confident that with Tony’s leadership partnered with high-performing teams in these three countries, we will continue to emerge stronger,” said Claudia Lorenzo, president of Coca-Cola ASEAN and South Pacific.
Tony started his career in the Philippines as Coca-Cola region manager for North and South Luzon. After almost two years in the role, he was appointed national operations director. A year later, he took on his first international post in Indonesia to become sales and marketing director of Ades Waters in a joint venture between Coca-Cola and Nestle. He was seconded to the bottler, Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, as commercial director and was based out of Jakarta for seven years.
In 2008, he began his journey in general management, beginning in Singapore and Malaysia, then increasing in scale to lead Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. More recently, he led more markets as general manager for Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar and Cambodia, and as commercial lead for the whole ASEAN region.
"I am grateful to have been given the chance to learn and understand the diverse cultures of different Coca-Cola markets. But the biggest honor is to go back to my home country after 20 years and serve my fellow Filipinos, especially during this time. With Coca-Cola’s rich history in the country, I am energized to lead and support our continued investment, growth & purpose in the Philippines,” Del Rosario said.
Tony will move back to the Philippines from Singapore with his wife, Annette while their two kids Maiki and Xavi will continue to work in Singapore and in New York respectively. He is a graduate of the Santa Clara University in California with a bachelor’s degree in Commerce, major in Finance and minor in Marketing.
Tony is an active board director of Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation.