Michael White: DirectTV CEO

Michael White earned a BA Degree from Boston College and has a Master’s Degree in International Relations from John Hopkins University. Michael has been a management consultant at Bain & Company and Arthur Anderson & Co.  He has also been Senior Vice President of Avon Products Inc.

In 1990 Michael joined Frito-Lay North America as Vice President for Planning. He was Chief Financial Officer for Frito-Lay North America from 1993 to December 1996. Michael was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pepsi-Cola Company worldwide from February 1997 to March 1998 and Pepsi Foods International from December to February 1997.

He was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo Inc from March 1998 to February 2000 where he was responsible for its treasury, tax, control, audit, information technology and investor relations functions. Michael then became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Europe, Africa and Middle East division at Frito-Lay International from 2000 to 2003.

He was an asset at PepsiCo having been assigned in various executive roles and was Chairman and Chief Executive Office of PepsiCo International Limited, a subsidiary of PepsiCo., Inc  from February 2003 to September 2009. In this capacity Michael was in charge of all its beverages, snack and food operations outside the U.S. and Canada.

While his career at PepsiCo has been outstanding Michael left the company to take on another challenging role; he joined DirectTV. He is currently the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and has served as Director since November 18, 2009.

The firm is one of the world’s leading providers of digital television entertainment services with more than 32 million customers in the U.S. and Latin America.  DirectTV provides over 285 channels with more than 185 HD channels in Dolby-Digital 5.1 theater-quality sound, access to exclusive programming and a comprehensive collection of sports programming such as NFL Sunday Ticket, and NBA League Pass.

While spending a good portion of his career in the beverage and food industry Michael moved into the direct satellite television industry without skipping a beat. Now that’s exceptional management talent.