Alfred Drewes
Director, Executive in Residence Program at Columbia Business School
Biography
Columbia Business School
Al Drewes ’82 brings over 35 years of executive experience with both global public and private equity portfolio companies in the consumer products space. Most recently he was the Chief Operating Officer of the Sun Products Corporation. Sun was a portfolio company owned by the private equity sponsor, Vestar Capital Partners. Al joined Sun in 2012 at a time when the company was struggling. Responsible for supply chain, finance, procurement, IT and customer service, he led the turnaround of the company through productivity and topline growth initiatives resulting in a highly successful monetization. In 2016, Sun was sold to Henkel AG for $3.6 Billion, a 12.9x multiple of EBITDA and one of the five largest private equity monetizations that year. Prior to joining Sun Products, Al was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Pepsi Bottling Group for nine years. PBG was a $13.2 Billion NYSE company with operations across the globe. During his tenure as CFO, Al led initiates including multibillion dollar acquisitions in Mexico and Russia, successfully navigating the 2008 financial crisis while generating 10% CAGR EPS growth and a nearly 4x improvement in stock price. Prior to Sun he held multiple leadership positions with PepsiCo, including CFO, VP of Manufacturing Operations, General Manager of Sub Sahara Africa and VP of Planning and Business Development with PepsiCo International. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Tab Foods Investments, based in Istanbul. He was formerly a Director of the Meredith Corporation. Al took his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and his MBA from Columbia, where he was Class Respondent. Areas of interest: private equity, public company CFO, multinational executive leadership, consumer products, emerging markets and M&A.
Read about executive education
Other experts
Popular Courses
The Manchester Leadership Development Programme
Alliance Manchester Business School
Manchester, United Kingdom
Jul 1
Leading Digital Transformation
ESMT
Berlin, Germany
May 28
Private Equity: Investing and Creating Value
The Wharton School
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Sep 8
Leading People and Teams
ESMT
Berlin, Germany
May 28
The Positive Leader: Deep Change and Organizational Transformation
Stephen M. Ross School of Business
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Jun 23
Leading Strategic Growth and Change
Columbia Business School
New York, New York, United States
Jun 10
Looking for an expert?
Contact us and we'll find the best option for you.