Success in a crowded market teaches lessons that transfer everywhere
In a region where borders have long been more permeable to commerce than to culture, Panama's marketing elite has been quietly shaped by decades of cross-continental movement. Adlatina's 2025 ranking, built on the rigorous ledger of Effie Awards performance, names the practitioners who have most effectively translated strategy into measurable impact — executives like Fernando Jaen, Fernando Ortiz, and Kim Waigel, whose careers trace arcs across languages, markets, and industries. The list is less a celebration of individual brilliance than a testament to what sustained mobility and institutional discipline can produce in a globalized economy.
- Panama's marketing hierarchy is no longer a matter of reputation alone — it is now anchored to a methodology, with Effie Awards data serving as the cold arbiter of effectiveness.
- The top three executives collectively represent decades inside multinationals like BAC Credomatic, Heineken, and Nestlé, signaling that cross-border experience has become the defining credential in the region.
- A striking pattern runs through the list: several top-ranked marketers have pivoted toward teaching, mentoring, or academic leadership, suggesting the field is in an active moment of knowledge transfer.
- Consumer goods and financial services dominate the top ten, revealing where Panama's marketing investment — and its most competitive talent — is currently concentrated.
- With the full methodology and study due in Marketers Magazine's June issue, the ranking is poised to reshape how regional firms benchmark talent and structure their recruitment strategies.
Panama's marketing establishment has a new hierarchy, and it was built on results. An exclusive investigation by Marketers by Adlatina measured performance across Effie Awards Latin America and regional chapters throughout 2025, producing a ranking of the country's most effective practitioners. The full study arrives in June's Marketers Magazine, but the top tier is already defined by executives who have spent careers moving between multinational brands and learning to move markets across borders.
Fernando Jaen leads the list. Since 2021, he has served as vice president of marketing and communications at BAC Credomatic Panama, and before that spent more than five years at Cervecería Nacional AB InBev in roles spanning Panama, the Dominican Republic, and the broader Caribbean. He now also teaches marketing at Quality Leadership University — a pattern that recurs across the ranking. Fernando Ortiz, CMO at Heineken, ranks second after a career that began with thirteen years at PepsiCo and moved through Cervecería Primus and Heineken International before arriving at his current post. Kim Waigel, newly promoted to CMO at Nestlé just two months ago, shares second place; his twenty-five years inside the company have taken him across Honduras, Dubai, Brazil, and Switzerland.
The remaining seven spots reveal a marketing ecosystem dominated by consumer goods and financial services. Natalia Hernández brings fifteen-plus years of experience from SABMiller and Arcos Dorados. Ana Patricia Salazar spent thirteen years at Digicel Group, eventually becoming CEO of its Panama operation, before moving to Cable & Wireless. Rodrigo González Paniza balances his vice president role at Toyota with startup mentorship, academic program leadership, and a personal venture called The Stoic Lab. Vivian Prieto Beetar oversees a sweeping portfolio at Banesco spanning customer experience, digital operations, and sustainability.
The list closes with Marisol Yap at Del Monte and Rodolfo Restrepo Herbruger at Panafoto, both shaped by stints at global giants like AB InBev and Adidas. What emerges is a portrait of a marketing class defined by movement — between countries, companies, and sectors — and by the discipline required to make campaigns work across cultures and regulatory environments. The full ranking and methodology arrive next month.
Panama's marketing establishment has a new hierarchy, and it was built on results. An exclusive investigation by Marketers by Adlatina tallied the performance records of marketers across Effie Awards Latin America and regional Effie chapters throughout 2025, then ranked the country's most effective practitioners. The full study arrives in June's Marketers Magazine, but the top tier is already clear: a cohort of executives who have spent years moving between multinational consumer brands, learning to move markets across borders and languages.
Fernando Jaen leads the list. Since 2021, he has served as vice president of marketing and communications at BAC Credomatic Panama, overseeing strategy for one of the region's largest financial institutions. Before that, he spent more than five years at Cervecería Nacional AB InBev, starting as a beer marketing director in Panama in 2015, then moving to the Dominican Republic as a marketing innovations manager covering Central America and the Caribbean. He holds degrees in business administration from the University of Louisville and Florida International University, and now teaches marketing at Quality Leadership University—a pattern that repeats across this list: success in the private sector, then the sharing of knowledge.
Fernando Ortiz, chief marketing officer at Heineken, ranks second. He arrived at Heineken eighteen months ago after three years directing marketing for the Americas at Heineken International. Before that, he spent three years on the board of Cervecería Primus. His career began at PepsiCo, where he worked for thirteen years, rising from distribution and logistics roles to head the company's international innovation and new business development division for Latin America. He studied business administration at Mexico's Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Kim Waigel, newly promoted to chief marketing officer at Nestlé just two months ago, shares the second-place ranking. With twenty-five years inside Nestlé, Waigel has worked across markets in Honduras, Dubai, Brazil, and Switzerland, among others. He began his career at the company as an internal auditor and studied business administration at the University of Lausana. The rapid promotion suggests the company sees his experience as essential to its current strategic moment.
The remaining seven spots in the top ten reveal a marketing ecosystem dominated by consumer goods and financial services. Natalia Hernández has managed marketing at Arcos Dorados for seven and a half years, having previously spent eight years at SABMiller in roles ranging from market intelligence to brand management. Angélica Alvarado Ariza joined Cervecería Nacional as vice president of marketing in 2024 after three years at Bavaria in Colombia, where she held the title of beyond core vice president. Ana Patricia Salazar leads B2C strategy at Cable & Wireless (Más Móvil), a position she has held for two and a half years; her longest tenure was thirteen years at Digicel Group, where she rose from marketing manager to CEO of the Panama operation.
Rodrigo González Paniza earned inclusion for his marketing communication strategy at Toyota, where he has served as vice president of marketing and experience for three years. Beyond that role, he mentors startups, leads the Recharge project commission, directs a degree program in market analysis, and runs The Stoic Lab. Ana Quintero, CEO of Grupo Athens since 2021, moved into that position after more than two and a half years as commercial manager. Vivian Prieto Beetar has spent more than five and a half years as vice president of customer experience, alternative channels, digital operations, PMO, and sustainability at Banesco, having previously directed content and marketing at TVN Media for four years.
The list closes with Marisol Yap, regional marketing manager at Del Monte, who has held her position for five years and two months after stints at Spirits Wine Group and AB InBev, and Rodolfo Restrepo Herbruger, director of marketing and publicity at Panafoto, who arrived two years ago from Adidas, where he spent three and a half years in regional content roles. What emerges is a portrait of a marketing class shaped by movement—between countries, between companies, between consumer and B2B worlds—and by the discipline required to succeed in multinational environments where a campaign must work across cultures and regulatory regimes. The full ranking and methodology arrive next month.
Citas Notables
Fernando Jaen now teaches marketing at Quality Leadership University while serving as BAC's vice president of marketing and communications— Career profile in ranking
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What makes someone effective enough to rank at the top of a list like this?
The Effie Awards measure actual business results—not creativity for its own sake, but whether a campaign moved the needle on sales, market share, brand perception. These marketers have track records of doing that across multiple markets and multiple product categories.
Why do so many of them come from beer and beverage companies?
Those industries are brutally competitive and highly measurable. If you can build a brand in a crowded beer market, you've learned something about consumer behavior that transfers everywhere. And they're multinational, so you get tested across different countries and consumer bases.
Is there a pattern in how they move between companies?
Almost all of them spend years at one major multinational—PepsiCo, AB InBev, Nestlé—learning the systems and the discipline, then move to a leadership role at a smaller or regional company. It's like they're taking what they learned at scale and applying it where they have more autonomy.
What does it mean that so many are now teaching or mentoring?
It suggests they've reached a point where they're thinking about legacy and about shaping the next generation. You don't mentor startups or teach university courses unless you believe you have something worth passing on. It's a sign of maturity in a career.
Does the fact that this ranking exists change anything?
It makes talent visible. If you're a company looking to hire a CMO, you now have a vetted list. It also creates pressure—being ranked creates expectations. These people will be watched more closely now.