O-I Glass CEO and board member Andres Lopez will retire from his roles effective May 15, the company announced Wednesday.
Lopez first joined O-I in 1986 and assumed the CEO position in January 2016. O-I reported its board has been working with an executive search firm to find the next CEO. In the announcement, O-I credited Lopez with integrating sustainability into the company’s business strategy and leading a business portfolio optimization program.
According to Lopez’s LinkedIn profile, he started at O-I as an engineer-in-training in Colombia. He later held roles including global vice president of manufacturing and engineering, president of O-I Americas and chief operating officer, among others.
“We have made significant progress on our transformational journey and are well-positioned to meet the evolving requirements of the packaging market and capitalize on emerging trends,” Lopez said in a statement Wednesday. “O-I has a bright future and I believe that breakthrough innovations like our MAGMA technology are just the beginning.”
The company is expanding in Bowling Green, Kentucky, this year with the first facility purposely built for its modular advanced glass manufacturing asset, or MAGMA, technology. It also recently shrunk capacity in Texas and Oregon amid business optimization and changes in end-market demand, including in wine. Late last year, O-I announced plans to curtail about 20% of its global capacity in Q4 to adjust inventory heading into 2024.
O-I’s yet-to-be-chosen incoming CEO will step into a slightly challenged, but potentially improving, business environment. Regarding glass shipments and customer destocking, Lopez said during the company’s February earnings call that “I'm encouraged by early signs of recovery and believe the worst is behind us.” O-I reported net sales of $7.1 billion in 2023, up 4% year over year, and predicts low or mid-single-digits sales volume growth in 2024.
O-I’s succession announcement follows numerous CEO changes announced by packaging companies in 2023, including at Avery Dennison, Berry Global, DS Smith, International Paper, SEE and Stora Enso.
