Leonardo Zei
Vice President, Strategic Ingredient Supply
The Coca‑Cola Company
Leonardo Zei is vice president and head of strategic ingredient supply for The Coca‑Cola Company. He is based in Atlanta and leads supply chain sourcing activities for all flavor and non-agricultural ingredients for the company’s iconic brands.
Zei joined the Coca‑Cola system in 1997 with Coca‑Cola Hellenic Italy, starting in sales and transitioning into roles of increasing responsibility in various functions, including logistics, audit and financial management, while covering several international assignments.
In 2007, Zei progressed to financial leadership roles with the appointment to Baltic’s finance director, followed by the appointment to Ireland’s finance director in 2009.
In 2012, Zei joined Reckitt Benckiser as regional finance director for Africa and, in 2014, returned to Dublin as EMEA supply chain finance director for Kellogg’s. In 2016, Zei came back to the Coca‑Cola system, joining Commercial Product Supply in Ireland. In 2018, he moved to Atlanta to lead Global Supply Chain Finance for Technical, Innovation & Supply Chain.
In 2022, Zei joined Flavor Manufacturing as finance and strategic planning director, coordinating the finance implementation of SAP S4, while supporting flavor supply on several strategic sourcing initiatives.
Zei holds a degree in business, economics and finance from the University of Florence in Italy, which included a one-year scholarship program at Ryerson University in Toronto. He has also completed the Strategic Finance Executive program at IMD Lausanne in Switzerland, the Supply Chain Leadership Excellence program at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and holds a certification in Procurement and Supply Chain Management Leadership, also from Georgia Tech.
