From Cockpit to Boardroom

Erwan Vilfeu, President of Global Branded Business Unit at Thai Union

Erwan Vilfeu, President of Global Branded Business Unit at Thai Union

"Stay ahead of the airplane" — this principle that pilots hold most dear perfectly encapsulates the management philosophy of a seasoned global executive who transformed from an Airbus engineer into a business leader.

His journey began with studying aeronautical engineering at Airbus, then training with Air France to become an airline pilot. After completing pilot training—and being grounded following September 11—he chose to remain in business, having discovered a passion for marketing. He's kept his pilot's license current, making him one of the few executives who actually pilots aircraft.

An engineer who once worked with machines and systems transformed into a marketer dealing with people and emotions. He led innovative transformations in global children's beverage strategy at Nestlé and revived Nestlé Korea from crisis through a premiumization strategy that broke away from conventional competitive approaches.

Currently serving as President of Global Branded Business Unit at Thai Union, he leads iconic seafood brands including Chicken of the Sea, John West, King Oscar, and Petit Navire. His distinctive insights stem from his philosophy of "being in the field" and his "Stay Ahead of the Airplane" approach, coordinating complex stakeholders from finance to manufacturing to innovation centers.

He holds special significance for me personally—as CEO of Nestlé Korea during my tenure there, he provided the opportunity for my marketing transition and served as the best boss I've ever experienced. I witnessed firsthand how his leadership philosophy translated into actual business results.

This interview explores how aviation experience influenced business leadership and practical strategies in complex global business environments.

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1. What led you to transition from working as an engineer at Airbus, a multinational aviation company, to becoming a marketer at Nestlé, the world's largest food and beverage company?

The move was completely unplanned. I started as an aeronautical engineer at Airbus and trained as a pilot, but when the opportunity at Nestlé came, I discovered something I hadn’t expected: the shift from working with machines to working with people. Engineering is about technical precision within complex systems, but in marketing, success depends on deeply understanding consumers — their motivations, needs, and aspirations. That human dimension, with all its complexity, is what made the field so compelling to me.

What surprised me was how much my aerospace background became a strength. Aviation has a simple rule: there are no small mistakes. A single error can have catastrophic consequences. I’ve carried that same discipline into marketing, where one misstep in brand positioning or communication can take years to recover from. Similarly, managing an aircraft program — with suppliers, regulators, and global teams — taught me how to orchestrate large-scale, multi-stakeholder projects, a skill that translates directly to running global campaigns.

Erwan Vilfeu

Perhaps the deepest link is systems thinking. In aircraft design, one small change cascades through the entire system. Marketing is no different: a pricing adjustment impacts brand perception, distribution, and promotional strategy. Anticipating those chain reactions became my strongest analytical tool.

Ultimately, both fields are built on trust. In aviation, passengers entrust their lives to the systems we design; in marketing, consumers entrust us with their families’ nutrition and wellbeing. The scale is different, but the responsibility is just as serious.

And on a personal note: looking back, I’ve moved across very different fields in my career — from engineering to marketing, from food to healthcare and back — and each time I’ve succeeded because I was doing something I loved. My advice to young people starting out is simple: if you approach your work with passion and genuine curiosity, and if you truly enjoy what you do, success will follow. Passion is the most powerful driver of performance.

2. As one of the few executives who actually pilot aircraft, how have principles learned from flying influenced your business approach?

The most powerful lesson from aviation is the idea of “staying ahead of the airplane.” In flying, if you are only reacting to events after they happen, you quickly lose control. The same applies in business: leaders who manage only today’s issues inevitably fall behind. The real discipline is anticipating what’s coming — whether it’s customer expectations, market shifts, or competitive moves — and preparing before challenges fully materialize.

Another principle I’ve carried over is the aviation mantra: “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.” It’s a simple hierarchy of priorities — fly the plane first, then figure out where you’re going, then talk about it. In business, that translates into focusing on what truly matters: keep the organization stable, chart the strategic course, and only then communicate widely. Too often leaders reverse the order, talking first without ensuring clarity or control.

Finally, flying teaches rigorous workload management. Pilots prepare extensively on the ground so that when complex situations arise, they can focus only on flying. I approach leadership the same way — systematizing routine management tasks and building resilient processes so that, when crises or strategic inflection points arrive, I can devote my full attention to the decisions that matter most.

In both the cockpit and the boardroom, success comes from anticipation, discipline, and clarity of focus.

3. Having built your early career across three markets—France, the US, and Italy—what was most interesting about these seemingly similar Western markets?

At first glance, France, the US, and Italy may appear culturally close, but in food marketing even subtle differences become decisive. What struck me most was how deeply consumption habits reflect broader cultural rhythms—around family, work, and social life. For example, breakfast in these three countries isn’t just a different meal; it embodies a different philosophy of daily life.

For me, the lesson was clear: local nuance cannot be an afterthought. Campaigns weren’t simply translated or adjusted — in each market we often had to redefine the entire value proposition. In France, consumers valued convenience and refinement; in Italy, quality and tradition carried more weight; while in the US, nutrition and family togetherness were decisive.

Over time, what became even more fascinating was how digitalization and globalization layered new commonalities over these differences. A wellness-focused millennial in New York and one in Milan may share similar values, routines, and brand expectations, even though their cultural contexts remain distinct. This creates both opportunity and complexity: brands must speak to global lifestyle clusters without losing local authenticity.

The balance I have adopted is simple but powerful: protect universal brand promises — quality, trust, innovation — but tailor how they are expressed in each cultural context. The most successful campaigns feel simultaneously global and inevitable locally. They clearly belong to the worldwide brand family, yet consumers feel they could only have been created for them.

4. While overseeing global children’s beverage strategy at Nestlé headquarters in Switzerland, what led you to shift away from directly targeting children in marketing?

At the time, the children’s beverage market was essentially flat. Competing harder within the same old model — colorful products directly targeted at kids — would not have created growth. We needed a step change.

The shift we made was deliberate and forward-looking: moving from child-targeted advertising to a strategy centered on parents and nutrition. We reformulated products to strengthen their nutritional profile, and we reshaped communications to focus on family routines, balanced breakfasts, and the benefits that matter most to parents — growth, energy, and peace of mind.

This required a complete transformation of how we worked. Marketing teams who had built careers on kid-focused campaigns had to be retrained. Media investment shifted from children’s channels to parent-focused platforms. Partnerships moved away from entertainment companies toward nutritionists and health experts. It was a significant change, but it was the only way to create new momentum.

The result was decisive. Not only did we return the business to growth — we achieved double-digit increases after years of stagnation — but we also established us as one of the first companies in the category to talk seriously about nutrition, long before it became industry standard.

The broader lesson is that leadership often means stepping out of the comfort zone of existing practices. Sometimes growth doesn’t come from fighting harder in a flat market, but from redefining the terms of the game.

Source: Nestlé Global

5. Your experience managing the entire coffee value chain across 22 African countries provided a rare integrated perspective. How did you transform complex operations into compelling consumer stories?

Coffee is not just a product; it’s a chain of livelihoods. When I took on the African business, the challenge was clear: farmers were struggling, youth were abandoning agriculture, and the long-term viability of supply was at risk. The easy response would have been to diversify suppliers or hedge risk. Instead, we chose to invest directly in the value chain — farmer training, sustainable practices, better income models, and closer integration from crop to consumer.

This gave us something priceless: authenticity. Consumers are increasingly skeptical of generic sustainability claims. But when you can show real progress — traceability down to communities, measurable improvements in farmer incomes, tangible environmental impact — the story resonates because it’s true.

The broader leadership insight is that supply chain strategy is brand strategy. Transparency only creates advantages if it’s backed by real operational change. And paradoxically, by improving farmer livelihoods, we not only strengthened the story we told consumers — we improved quality, stabilized supply, and delivered stronger financial performance. Purpose and profit worked in unison.

Source: Nestlé Global

6. When you took over Nestlé Korea and broke away from conventional competitive approaches by quickly identifying three opportunity areas, where did your confidence come from that premiumization would work in a difficult market environment?

Korea was one of the toughest markets I’ve faced: saturated, hyper-competitive, and dominated by local players with lower cost structures. Competing head-to-head on price would have been a race to the bottom. Instead, we looked for where our global capabilities could create unique value.

What we found was an emerging consumer polarization. Price-sensitive segments were more demanding than ever, but at the same time, a growing group was willing to pay a premium for genuine quality, innovation, and nutrition. That was the white space.

So we shifted the battlefield. Premiumization wasn’t about simply charging more — it was about offering lifestyle upgrades, superior ingredients, trusted nutrition, and innovative retail experiences. By leaning into our strengths and focusing on consumers willing to pay for value, we carved out sustainable growth while competitors stayed trapped in mainstream battles.

The lesson is clear: in crisis situations, leaders must resist the reflex to lower prices and chase volume. Differentiation almost always trumps commoditization. Winning comes from choosing battlegrounds where you can lead, not fighting on grounds where you can only survive.

7. Leading large-scale organizational change while managing stakeholder resistance requires complex people management skills. Do you have a framework for creating consensus around difficult changes while maintaining team morale and organizational trust?

Change is never just about strategy; it’s always about people. The first step is radical transparency — ensuring everyone understands why change is necessary. Not as blame, but as shared reality. People can accept tough measures if they understand the logic behind them.

Second, you have to involve them in designing the solutions. I always set up cross-functional groups so that change is co-created, not imposed. This transforms resistance into ownership.

Third, balance honesty with optimism. Acknowledge the difficulty, but also paint a credible path forward. Small early wins are crucial — they turn skepticism into cautious hope, and hope into momentum.

The bigger principle is that leaders must carry two responsibilities at once: being brutally honest about the challenge, and deeply committed to their people’s ability to overcome it. Done well, you don’t just deliver a transformation — you build a more resilient, more collaborative organization ready for the next one.

8. Your journey from FMCG to healthcare and back to FMCG provided unique insights as a marketer. How did you experience the limitations of purely rational, evidence-based marketing?

Healthcare is an extraordinary discipline because everything rests on evidence, precision, and trust. But it also showed me the limits of pure rationality. You can prove efficacy and safety, but you cannot build desire or emotional connection in the same way as in consumer goods.

That rigor, however, shaped me profoundly. I learned the discipline of accuracy, accountability, and the weight of responsibility when claims affect lives. When I returned to FMCG, I brought that discipline with me — ensuring that even our most creative, emotional campaigns are grounded in truth.

What I rediscovered — and missed — in FMCG was the complexity of human behavior: culture, aspirations, family dynamics, identity. That’s what makes consumer marketing endlessly energizing. The lesson is this: the best marketing combines both worlds — the scientific rigor of healthcare with the creative storytelling of FMCG. That balance builds both trust and connection.

9. As a business leader, how do you expect your marketing team to present performance—not just today’s numbers, but also how we are winning with consumers and preparing for the future?

At the end of the day, every number in marketing must answer one question: are we becoming more relevant to consumers? That’s the lens I expect my teams to apply when they present to me or to the board.

First, I want clarity and a compelling narrative. A presentation should never feel like a data dump. It should tell a strategic story: where we are heading, why it matters, and how marketing is powering our journey. The numbers then support that story, not the other way around.

Second, I expect consumer impact to be at the center. Don’t just show activities or spend — show how consumer preference, loyalty, and engagement are shifting. Market share and ROI are important, but only because they reflect whether consumers are choosing us more often, staying with us longer, and advocating for us more strongly.

Third, I look for a balance of discipline and vision. Discipline means tying marketing actions to measurable business outcomes — share gains, brand health, lifetime value, ROI. Vision means showing how innovation — whether through new products, digital platforms, or AI-driven personalization — is keeping us ahead of evolving consumer needs and behaviors.

Fourth, I want context, simplicity, and courage. A number without context doesn’t inspire. I expect comparisons against competitors, against our own targets, or against trends. And I want reports to be clear and jargon-free, so that even the most complex marketing activity is translated into business language. Most importantly, I want honesty. Tell me not only where we are winning, but where consumers are signaling we must do better. That courage to face reality builds trust and drives agility.

Finally, I expect a bridge to the future. Reports should conclude with where consumers are heading, what gaps we are closing, and how we are building the capabilities to win tomorrow. Marketing’s role is not only to explain today but to light the path forward.

When performance is presented this way — consumer-first, accountable, and forward-looking — it ceases to be a cost line to justify. It becomes a growth engine and an innovation driver, keeping the company anchored in today’s reality while pulling it toward tomorrow’s opportunities.

Erwan Vilfeu

10. Managing decades-old iconic seafood brands across multiple markets requires balancing heritage respect with operational efficiency. How do you capture portfolio synergies without diluting the unique value each brand holds for specific consumer segments?

Managing a portfolio of iconic brands is both a privilege and a responsibility. Each brand has decades of equity and emotional connection. The temptation in large portfolios is to standardize too much for efficiency, but if you do, you erode the very uniqueness that makes each brand valuable.

The key is to separate what must be shared from what must be preserved. Behind the scenes, we harmonize standards in nutrition, sustainability, and quality — these are foundations that strengthen every brand. But at the consumer level, we protect each brand’s voice and heritage. John West speaks about everyday trust, King Oscar about craftsmanship and oceans, Petit Navire about French culinary tradition.

This balance allows us to leverage scale without losing our soul. The broader leadership lesson is this: efficiency should serve brand equity, never compromise it.

11. Your "being in the field" philosophy suggests that important strategic turning points came from field observations rather than data analysis. Can you share a specific example where field insights fundamentally overturned assumptions?

For me, the most important lesson as a leader is that strategy doesn’t start in the boardroom — it starts in the field. I first learned this in Africa, where data alone could never capture the full reality of fast-changing markets. Talking directly to farmers, retailers, or consumers often revealed insights that turned our assumptions upside down.

That conviction has stayed with me. Whether in Africa, Asia, or Europe, I make it a point to meet shoppers in stores, sit with frontline teams, and listen to colleagues across functions. These conversations are not just about “hearing complaints”; they are the richest source of innovation and organizational improvement. Often, the best ideas for efficiency, new products, or better ways of working come not from consultants or reports, but from people on the ground who see issues and opportunities first-hand.

Even today, I see the same pattern: the most effective strategies are those rooted in lived reality. Data tells you what happened; field interactions tell you why it happened and what can happen next. As leaders, we can only make our organizations more efficient, more innovative, and more resilient if we stay close to the people who make things happen — inside and outside the company.

12. From cockpit to boardroom —having navigated multiple economic crises and industry upheavals while continuously reinventing yourself—how do you distinguish between changes worth adapting to and passing trends?

The pace of change today is relentless, and not every signal deserves the same response. Over time, I’ve developed a simple filter: is this change reshaping fundamental consumer behavior, economics, or the way business is done? If yes, then it’s not a trend — it’s a transformation. That’s how I saw social media early on, and that’s how I view AI now.

But the deeper truth is this: no leader, and no organization, can perfectly predict the future. What matters most is building the capacity to adapt. Staying close to consumers, testing and learning quickly, and not being afraid to fail fast — those are the capabilities that allow a business to thrive no matter what disruption comes next.

My career has taken me from aircraft systems to food and nutrition, from healthcare to global brands. The industries have changed, the tools have changed, but the fundamentals haven’t: understand people, solve real problems, and create lasting value. If you do that consistently — and remain humble enough to keep learning — you can navigate through any turbulence.

Erwan Vilfeu