Roberto was born to a prosperous family in Cuba in 1931. His family ran a sugar mill and he was educated both in Havana and Connecticut, USA. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in chemical engineering in 1953, Roberto, his parents’ only child, returned to Cuba to work in his family’s business. But one year after his return, he took a position with the Coca-Cola Company at a bottling plant, filling an open chemical engineering position.

With Fidel Castro’s rise to power in the late 1950s, the government seized the assets of many of the country’s upper- and middle-class families. Concurrently, Coca-Cola’s operations in Cuba were nationalized. With only US$40 in his pocket, 100 shares of Coca-Cola stock, and his job with the company, Roberto, his wife Olguita, and their three children fled Cuba for the United States. Roberto worked in Miami for a time before relocating to Nassau, Bahamas, and finally, in 1964, relocating to Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. At Coca-Cola headquarters, Roberto caught the eye of former company president and Chairman of the Board Robert Woodruff. The 91-year-old chairman of the company’s finance committee mentored Roberto and spent a great deal of time with him, gaining the attention of other company leaders. In 1981, Roberto was appointed CEO of the Coca-Cola Company. From 1981 until the end of his tenure in 1997, Roberto increased Coca-Cola’s market value from US$4 billion to US$145 billion, an increase of 3,500%, recovering seamlessly from the New Coke campaign.

In addition to creating tremendous financial value, Roberto transformed the corporate culture at the Coca-Cola Company. He was always on time, if not 15 minutes early, started his days at the crack of dawn, and was always impeccably dressed. Other priorities of Roberto’s included the following:

• Know your priorities

• Don't be afraid to look foolish

• Treat return on capital as gospel

• Take calculated risks Recover from disaster

• Understand politics and networking

• Maintain a scientific viewpoint

• Know the superpower of incentive

• Keep things simple

He believed in stewardship, always aiming to leave things better than he found them and established a sense of trust and consistency in the company. His belief in truth and integrity were also well known and felt throughout the Coca-Cola Company.