When Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK) named its new President and Chief Executive Officer, the appointment came with a resume that spans three continents, multiple Fortune 500 companies, and more than 25 years of senior leadership experience. That executive was Robbert Rietbroek, a leader whose career has taken him from early brand management roles in Europe to the top of one of North America’s most significant packaging companies.
His story is not one of overnight success or a single defining break. It is the result of consistently earning larger responsibilities, working across genuinely different industries and geographies, and developing a leadership style grounded in operational discipline and long-term thinking.
A Foundation Built Over 15 Years at Procter & Gamble
Before holding any C-suite title, Robbert Rietbroek spent 15 years at Procter & Gamble, a company long regarded as one of the most demanding training grounds in consumer goods. During that tenure, he worked across Europe, South America, and the United States, taking on roles that centered on strategic initiatives and brand development.
This kind of cross-regional exposure at an early career stage is significant. It means that by the time he stepped into general management roles, he already understood how the same product category can behave very differently depending on the market — different consumer behaviors, different competitive sets, different regulatory environments. That kind of perspective is hard to teach and harder to fake.
P&G’s culture also places heavy emphasis on data-driven decision-making and structured problem-solving. Those habits tend to stay with people throughout their careers, and they show up clearly in the type of leader Rietbroek became.
Kimberly-Clark and PepsiCo: Expanding the Scope
Leading Global Baby and Child Care at Kimberly-Clark
After P&G, Robbert Rietbroek moved into senior roles at Kimberly-Clark, where he took on leadership of the company’s Global Baby and Child Care division, a category that demands precision in brand positioning, supply chain management, and consumer trust. He also held responsibility for Kimberly-Clark Australia and New Zealand, adding regional general management to his profile.
These roles marked a shift from brand-focused work into genuine enterprise leadership. Running a global category means owning the P&L, managing relationships across markets, and making calls that affect the business at scale. Running a country operation adds the complexity of managing a full organizational structure with all the functions that come with it.
A Different Kind of Challenge at PepsiCo
His next chapter brought him to PepsiCo, where he served in two distinct senior leadership capacities:
- Senior Vice President and General Manager, PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand: A full-market leadership role that required him to oversee the company’s operations in a competitive but geographically distinct market.
- Senior Vice President and General Manager, Quaker Foods North America: In this role, he held end-to-end responsibility for a major North American division, directing brand management, operational performance, and strategic growth for one of PepsiCo’s most established food portfolios.
The Quaker Foods role in particular illustrates the kind of high-stakes general management experience that prepares someone for a public company CEO position. Overseeing a full P&L for a division that size, with all the market pressures, retailer relationships, and operational demands that come with it, is exactly the kind of work that builds CEO-ready executives.
Leading Graphic Packaging: The Current Chapter
Robbert Rietbroek currently serves as President and CEO of Graphic Packaging Holding Company, a publicly traded company listed on the NYSE under the ticker GPK. Graphic Packaging is a major player in consumer packaging, producing paperboard-based packaging solutions for some of the world’s most recognizable food and beverage brands.
The role places him at the intersection of two significant trends: growing demand for sustainable, fiber-based packaging and increasing pressure on consumer goods companies to reduce plastic use in their supply chains. Graphic Packaging sits directly in that conversation, and leading the company requires both operational skill and a clear point of view on where the industry is headed.
His appointment to the role drew on the full breadth of his career. Leading a publicly traded company is a different undertaking than leading a division inside a larger corporation. Investor expectations, board governance, capital allocation decisions, and public communications all become part of the daily reality. His background across P&G, Kimberly-Clark, and PepsiCo, combined with prior experience as a public company CEO, gave him a strong foundation for the responsibilities that come with the GPK role.
One distinctive credential that sets him apart in the packaging sector: he holds three packaging design patents, a detail that speaks to a hands-on understanding of the product category that goes beyond the typical executive profile.
Board Roles and Industry Involvement
Civic and Industry Engagement
Outside of his day-to-day responsibilities at Graphic Packaging, Rietbroek maintains active involvement in both civic and industry organizations:
- Metro Atlanta Chamber: He serves on the board of directors, reflecting his engagement with the regional business community where Graphic Packaging is headquartered.
- American Forest and Paper Association: His board membership here connects him directly to the broader forest products and paper industry, which is central to Graphic Packaging’s core business.
- Wall Street Journal CEO Council: Membership in this group places him among a select cohort of senior executives who participate in discussions on business, policy, and economic issues at a national level.
These affiliations are not incidental. They reflect a deliberate approach to leadership that extends beyond the walls of any single company.
Academic Background
Rietbroek earned his master’s degree from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, a research-focused institution with a strong international reputation. That educational foundation, combined with a career built almost entirely through multinational operating experience, reflects a leader shaped as much by real-world complexity as by formal study.
What the Career Arc Tells Us
There is a coherence to how this career has unfolded. Each move built on the last — not just adding titles, but adding fundamentally different kinds of experience. Consumer goods to personal care to food to packaging. Brand management to category leadership to full company CEO. Single-country operations to multi-regional responsibility to global scale.
For anyone trying to understand what kind of leader Robbert Rietbroek is and what he brings to Graphic Packaging, the resume itself answers most of the questions.
About Robbert Rietbroek
Robbert Rietbroek is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK), a leading producer of paperboard-based consumer packaging. He brings more than 25 years of global leadership experience across Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and PepsiCo, where he held senior general management roles spanning North America, Europe, South America, and the Asia-Pacific region. He holds three packaging design patents and a master’s degree from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He serves on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the American Forest and Paper Association, and is a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council.
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