PepsiCo Fleet Director Pete Silva Retires

PepsiCo Fleet Director Pete Silva retired on February 17. Silva has been in fleet for 32 years, fourteen of which have been with the company's snack foods division Frito Lay.

Silva's legacy with the soft drink company will be his innovations regarding purchasing contracts and processes in regard to the company's operating units and its bottlers. With advances in strategic planning, Silva enabled significant positives from volume leveraged pricing with suppliers.

Silva started at Frito Lay in 1982, working in plant operations management. Silva began in fleet in 1998 as Fleet Director for the company, a position he held until 2004.

Silva's retirement comes at a good time, as change may be imminent behind the scenes at PepsiCo. Activist investor Nelson Peltz renewed his crusade to convince the to spin off its beverage business from the snacks division.

In a 37-page letter to PepsiCo's board made public on February 20, Peltz urged the company to spin off its beverage business and focus on its billion-dollar snack business to create "two leaner and more entrepreneurial companies."