Zevia didn’t hire a stranger to run its turnaround. It promoted a board member with Red Bull in his bloodstream. Alexandre Ruberti’s rise is a lesson in the quiet power of the leader who is already in the room.
When Zevia’s board named Alexandre Ruberti President and Chief Executive Officer on June 15, 2026, the Encino-based beverage maker did something quietly telling. It did not cast a wide net for an outside savior or parade a shortlist of celebrity operators. It reached into its own boardroom. Ruberti, a Zevia director since August 2024, stepped straight from the board table into the corner office of the NYSE-listed, zero-sugar soda brand. And the company was confident enough in the handoff that it raised its second-quarter outlook in the very same breath.
The resume is pure commercial firepower. Ruberti brings more than 25 years in consumer-packaged goods, anchored by a remarkable 16-year run at Red Bull, where he served as President of Red Bull Distribution Company and Chief Commercial Officer for Red Bull North America. This is a leader who spent nearly two decades learning how to put a can in a consumer’s hand and make them reach for it again. Add a chief executive turn at plant-based innovator Future Farm and senior leadership inside the Coca-Cola bottling system, and you have a rare profile: someone fluent in both scrappy challenger brands and the machinery of global beverage distribution.
He inherits the top job from Amy Taylor, who stepped down to lead Los Angeles’ own Angel City Football Club. The timing matters. Zevia has been in the middle of a turnaround, fighting for shelf space in a category dominated by giants and crowded with new better-for-you challengers. Naming a proven commercial operator, and signaling raised guidance on day one, is a board saying: the rebuild is over, now we accelerate.
Zevia occupies a fascinating corner of the market: naturally sweetened, zero-sugar sodas aimed at a generation walking away from artificial ingredients. It is a space with enormous upside and brutal competition, where legacy giants and fast-rising challengers alike fight for the same health-conscious shopper. Winning here takes more than a good product. It takes distribution discipline, marketing precision, and the operational nerve to scale without breaking. That is the exact skill set Ruberti spent his career building.
Ruberti framed the moment with the clarity of someone who already knows exactly where the levers are:
“I am honored to step into the role of CEO. Zevia has reached a clear inflection point and established a strong foundation for accelerated growth and profitability. The focus now shifts from rebuilding to accelerating execution and capturing the full potential of the brand.”
Alexandre Ruberti, President & CEO, Zevia
Hear the confidence in that: not the tentative language of a newcomer studying the map, but the certainty of someone who has already walked the terrain. This is the underrated case for promoting from the boardroom. When a company elevates a director who has spent years in its strategy sessions, it compresses the CEO learning curve to nearly zero. Sometimes the sharpest executive search ends at the table you already sit at, and the smartest hire is the known quantity you already trust over the dazzling stranger.
There is a broader lesson here for anyone who builds teams. The flashiest hire is rarely the safest one. The candidate who already understands your customers, your culture, and your unfinished business often carries a hidden advantage no outside star can match: context. Ruberti’s promotion is a case study in valuing what you already have, and trusting the person who has already earned the room.
It is also a win for Southern California’s consumer economy. Zevia is part of a Los Angeles and Orange County talent market that keeps producing category-defining consumer companies and drawing seasoned operators to lead them. As the hiring trends of 2026 tilt decisively toward proven execution over hype, Ruberti is precisely the profile boards across the region are chasing: a builder who has done it before, at scale, and is not afraid of the hard, unglamorous work of turning potential into performance.
To Alexandre Ruberti: congratulations. Turnarounds are not won by outsiders with slide decks. They are won by leaders who know the terrain, and you already do.
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Sources & verification
Appointment & quote: Zevia / Business Wire · BevNET · Food Dive · citybiz
Chief Talent Strategist & Editor-in-Chief | 26-year global recruiting veteran, #1 bestselling author, cancer survivor & humanitarian. Founder of Recruiter Hustle, OC/LA's no-filter media platform for talent, finance & recruiting professionals. Heart. Human. Hustle.