INTERNATIONAL. Global food & beverage and travel retail company Areas has announced changes within its leadership structure, marking a new phase of growth and international consolidation.
Patricio Ramos has been named Group Chief Strategy and Development Officer and Mathieu Herrero is switching from his Concepts & Standards Director role to CEO of Areas France, one of the company’s key strategic European markets.
Ramos will lead the definition and implementation of Areas’ corporate roadmap and global transformation projects.
He brings more than two decades of experience in business transformation and development across travel, distribution and leisure.
His most recent position was with the Boston Consulting Group, where he served as Managing Director & Partner leading the Consumer and Travel practice in Spain and Portugal and the European Travel practice.
Earlier in his career, Ramos was Chief Transformation Officer at Parques Reunidos, the Spanish theme parks company.
Since 2021 he has served as an independent board member of airline TAP Air Portugal.
Areas said Ramos’s remit is to steer corporate strategy and large-scale transformation at a decisive stage in the company’s evolution.
Herrero takes the reins as Areas France CEO on 1 March. He is a near-20-year veteran with Areas, having led Concepts & Standards in Spain, Portugal and France and most recently serving on the corporate executive committee with global responsibility for commercial development, marketing, procurement and construction.
Areas highlighted his intimate knowledge of the business and the French market, where the company has recently won major airport, rail, motorway and leisure contracts and strengthened its motorway service area presence through the acquisition of Sighor.
The appointments follow a run of strategic moves for Areas, including winning Aena’s largest-ever airport F&B tenders at Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat and the acquisition of Travel Hospitality Services in the USA, moves the company says materially strengthen its footprint in core markets. ✈
