PepsiCo’s Farzin Firooznia is the 2025 Compliance Officer of the Year
By 
Adrianne Appel2025-04-30T00:37:00
Some compliance teams consider it outside their roles to learn the ins and outs of their businesses, and something to explore when they have time.
At PepsiCo—with 300,000 employees and 500+ brands—knowing the business is central to success in compliance, explained Farzin Firooznia, the company’s Global Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer (CCEO).
Firooznia, who has been with PepsiCo for nearly 20 years and has held the CCEO position since January 2023, leads a team of 60 senior compliance officers based around the globe.
“It’s a tremendously important role and I don’t take the responsibility lightly. I’ve stepped into some serious shoes,” said Firooznia, who was awarded Chief Compliance Officer of the Year at the 2025 Excellence in Compliance Awards.
Related articles
-
PremiumADQ’s Fatima Almarzooqi is Compliance Week’s 2025 Rising Star in Compliance Award Winner
Fatima Almarzooqi, senior compliance specialist at ADQ, has spent five years in the industry, working across direct engagement with subsidiary leadership, regulatory advisory, and the implementation of wide-scale compliance initiatives. But it’s her thoughtful and fun ideas that made her a Rising Star in Compliance at the 2025 Excellence in ...
-
News BriefTesla turmoil, Kohls dismissal mark rare public rebukes of executive leadership
Two CEOs of high-profile American companies received rare public votes of no-confidence from their boards of directors this week, just as attendees at Compliance Week’s 20th Anniversary National Conference discussed their role in upholding business ethics and executive accountability.
-
AnalysisAfter fighting the good fight, here’s how you know it’s time to leave a company
As conversations about corporate accountability increasingly turn to include questions about “tone from the top” and the responsibility of senior leadership and boards of directors, compliance professionals are increasingly discussing what to do when they see executive wrongdoing. The answer, one panelist who’d help lead a multinational company said, is ...
More from Surveys & Benchmarking
-
PremiumInside the Mind of the CCO: Compliance in an uncertain world, still with fuzzy reporting lines
The world is rapidly changing. The European Union is stepping up rules and enforcement, while the United Kingdom is charting its own course. And now the United States is taking a third tack, with unclear regulation enforcement under a mercurial Donald Trump’s second term as president underway.
-
PremiumInside the Mind of the CCO: Salaries level out in 2024
An overheated demand for compliance officers in the post-Covid era finally cooled off in 2024, according to Compliance Week’s Inside the Mind of the CCO survey.
-
PremiumSurvey: Compliance, now at the leadership table, navigates an uncertain risk landscape
At a time when the Trump administration is rewriting many of the rules, the compliance function is being embraced as a strategic partner to the C-suite and board, Compliance Week’s 2024 “Inside the Mind of the CCO” survey shows. The new objective: risk-assess the implications of Trump’s confetti of executive ...