With the aim to acquaint himself with a long-standing associate of his organisation, Mike Spanos, CEO PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and North Africa (AMENA) Sector visited LUMS on January 30, 2018 during his visit to Pakistan. Mr. Spanos is an American and a PepsiCo Veteran. Prior to his appointment as AMENA CEO in January this year, Mike was the CEO for PepsiCo China Business based in Shanghai. His visit to Pakistan was part of his market immersion and orientation plan as head of PepsiCo in the region.
Mr. Spanos was accompanied by PepsiCo management including Furqan Ahmed Syed, VP and GM, PepsiCo Pakistan; Mohammad Khosa, Director Franchise and Key Accounts; Salman Butt, Director Marketing; Hatim Khan, Head of Corporate Affairs; Zeeshan Suhail, Corporate Affairs Manager and Khurram Zafar, Head of Security. The delegation was welcomed by Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) Leadership and representatives of the LUMS Office of Marketing & Communications.
The delegates met with the Vice Chancellor LUMS, Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi and the LUMS Advisory Board Members over lunch at the Executive Dining Hall. They were given a comprehensive introduction on LUMS, its five schools and the programmes it offers, the National Outreach Programme (NOP) and the achievement s of its graduates. Mr. Spanos was highly impressed by the efforts of the LUMS management towards making world-class education accessible to all through the NOP. Praising LUMS, he said, “We genuinely believe that LUMS is a high-profile research oriented academic institution. This visit gave me a broader perspective of the Pakistani higher education system. It is in our mutual interests to work together on a broad range of issues, from regional stability to education and development.”
The delegation was also given a campus tour where they were shown different facilities of LUMS including the Library, the Moot Court at the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law and the Rausing Executive Development Centre.
They also visited the National Incubation Centre (NIC) where they met with the Centre’s management and incubates and was extremely impressed with the business ideas that young entrepreneurs are working on.
PepsiCo has well established ties with LUMS; in addition to establishing the largest dining facility on campus, the Pepsi Dining Centre, they are also a significant recruiting partner of LUMS graduates. PepsiCo organised the ‘PEP Talks’ in May 2017 which were a unique platform for students to engage and learn from the leaders of PepsiCo through inspirational talks and mentorship from the keynote speakers.
Dr. Mehmood Khan, who currently serves as vice chairman and chief scientific officer of PepsiCo, is an esteemed member of the Advisory Board of the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering (SBASSE) at LUMS.
LUMS looks forward to further engagement with PepsiCo for collaboration on development projects in the region.
