NEW YORK — Stephen Kehoe, who stepped down from his Edelman Asia Pacific CEO role last year, will be returning to his former employer PepsiCo as chief corporate affairs officer.

In a LinkedIn post, Kehoe said that he will be assuming his new role, which includes serving as chairman of the PepsiCo Foundation, on May 1.  He will be succeeding Roberto Azevêdo, who will be retiring this summer after nearly three years with the company.

Kehoe’s start date at PepsiCo will comes just shy of a year since he departed Edelman in favor of a “career break” prompted by the birth of his and his wife’s first child.

Kehoe spent three years as Edelman’s Asia Pacific president and CEO. Under Kehoe’s leadership, Edelman returned to growth of 7.4% in Asia Pacific in 2021, after a lengthy period of decline.

Before joining Edelman, Kehoe was in-house at Visa for more than seven years, serving as senior VP, global financial relations and inclusion. He previously led government affairs at PepsiCo in Belgium and then New York from 2004 to 2010, and before that was UK managing director at APCO Worldwide.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to get to lead one of the best communications, public policy, government affairs and citizenship teams in the business. I'm grateful to PepsiCo management for their confidence that I can build on what has already been achieved. The mission — to deliver a refreshed reputation, engagement and social impact strategy for a company I truly admire — is hugely motivating,” Kehoe wrote.

“In taking up the reins from Roberto, I will be building on the legacy and of many strong previous leaders, not least the widely respected Jon Banner who led communications at PepsiCo for most of the last decade, and whose talented team I will now also be supporting.

“I'm looking forward to working again with many former colleagues, and of course with all those PepsiCo associates I have yet to meet,” he said.