Executive assumes the position on October 1st instead of Leonardo Coelho, who will join the company’s financial committee
The American Board of Directors elected this Monday (25.ago.2025) Fernando Dias Soares as the company’s new CEO of the company. Soares’ mandate begins on October 1, 2025. Here is the relevant fact (PDF – 317 kb).
Soares has been in the company since September 2024, when he assumed the vice-presidency of operations. He will replace Leonardo Coelho, who has led the company since February 2023, in the midst of the financial crisis, and will join the financial committee.
“The Board of Directors thanks Mr. Leonardo Coelho for all his dedication and due diligence during the period in which he assumed the position of CEO, having contributed to the restructuring of the company”, I told Americanas in a statement.
The company said the new president will continue the strategic plan “Focusing on growth, based on productivity and profitability, to serve all stakeholders, especially its millions of customers throughout Brazil, as well as its thousands of suppliers and employees”..
Who is Fernando Dias Soares
Graduated in Business Administration, with postgraduate degree from FGV-SP (Getúlio Vargas Foundation) and MBA from Insead (European Institute of Business Administration).
Soares was CEO of Domino’s Pizza in Brazil, where he conducted a strategic restructuring. He also had a career at AB Inbev (Anheuser-Busch Inbev), as president of the non-alcoholic beverages in Brazil and leader of business units in Colombia, Peru and Mexico.
American case
In January 2023, the retailer revealed accounting inconsistencies that pointed to a break of $ 20 billion. The revised amount reached R $ 43 billion and led the company to request judicial recovery.
The court approved the plan in December 2023 to restructure a debt of $ 50 billion. In April 2025, the MPF (Federal Prosecutor) reported 13 former executives and employees on charges of fraud.
Among them was the former executive president of the company Miguel Gutierrez, and former B2W executive president, responsible for the digital area, Anna Saicali.
Also denounced the former vice-president Thimoteo Barros and Marcio Cruz and former directors Anna Cristina Sotero, Carlos Padilha, Fabien Picavet, Jean Pierre Ferreira, João Guerra, Maria Christina Nascimento, Murilo Corrêa and Raoni Fabiano.
According to the text, which is under confidential, Gutierrez was the one who “Planned, ordered and executed” the fraud perpetrated by the American group companies. The former executive president of Americanas lives in Madrid, Spain. In July 2024, the MPF.
“While running the American stores, Gutierrez was aware of all the frauds practiced, including suggesting changes in the balance sheets that would be announced.”said the MPF.
The complaint also added that the former executive president “By free will and conscience, 28 times” practiced fraud for the purpose of “Raise or maintain the quotation and price of real estate values (especially actions by US companies SA, B2W and American stores)” to obtain “Understanding or profit for you or others or cause damage to third parties”.
