Steven Williams, one of the highest-ranked minority executives in corporate America, oversees 70,000 employees, including 6,500 Frito-Lay workers in the Dallas metro area.
PepsiCo Foods has 70,000 employees working at 500-plus locations throughout the United States and Canada, including 6,500 employees in the Dallas metro area working at Frito-Lay North America headquarters in Plano, its R&D center, global IT unit, multiple plants and warehouse facilities. PepsiCo bought Quaker in 2001, and Williams, who had been at Quaker for four years, came along with the deal. Eighteen years later, he was promoted to chief executive of PepsiCo’s North American food business after moving steadily up the corporate ladder.
Frito-Lay’s 2019 acquisition of BFY was among the big payoffs. The company makes PopCorners, triangle-shaped chips are made of popped yellow corn — not popcorn — and are strong enough for dipping. “Steven knows how to be effective no matter if he is working with the front line or executives in a board room,” Perez said. “His passion and energy are contagious. Because he cares so deeply, so does everyone around him.”
“He is incredibly devoted to his family and always there for his friends — and anyone who knows Steven knows his big, signature Steven Williams smile.”Williams grew up in the tiny town of Haskell, Okla. — about 45 minutes south of Tulsa — as the youngest of nine children. One reason Williams looks back at his childhood with such warmth is because his father was a relentless optimist who took in homeless people even though he had small children in the house.
Williams isn’t into organized religion but is deeply spiritual, he said. “The two big things that always make me feel small are the mountains and the seas. You look at them, and you know that man didn’t create them.”Williams has been in retail since he stocked shelves and sacked groceries at the Ridley grocery store in Haskell when he was 13. He made about $2.50 an hour.He’s much better paid and has much better office digs.
“The value of hard work can’t be overstated nor can the experience of working in retail. The world is full of different people. The quicker you learn how to deal with people who are different from you, the better off you’ll be.”two “tours of duty” with Walmart when he worked at PepsiCo’s offices in northwest Arkansas near Walmart’s Bentonville headquarters.Williams was in his 30s when he was deployed the first time. That’s when he learned the “sundown rule.
John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., isn’t surprised by Williams’ success. “He’s grounded and honest, and he’s always understood that it’s not about him,” Furner said. “He leads by bringing out the best in others.” He was a driving force behind Southern Dallas Thrives, a partnership of Frito-Lay North America, the PepsiCo Foundation and United Way.
Women walk with bags of free groceries after attending a pop-up market and drive-through event at the East Dallas Church of Christ on April 09 in Dallas. The free grocery event was hosted by the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas' Southern Dallas Thrives initiative and Goodr.Williams wanted to do his part and agreed to head United Way’s annual capital campaign for 2024-25, the nonprofit’s 100th anniversary.
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