The board of directors of Bacardi Limited announced Facundo L. Bacardi has been elected chairman of the board effective immediately, completing the company's chairman succession plan. Bacardi has served as vice chairman of the board for three years and has been a director of Bacardi Limited since 1993. He is the great-great grandson of the company founder, Don Facundo Bacardi Masso, who created the company in 1862 in Santiago de Cuba.
Bacardi follows Ruben Rodriguez, chairman since 2000 and who retired as chairman but will remain an active member of the board of directors. Previously, the board announced both Rodriguez's plans to retire and the intent of the board to elect Bacardi as its ninth chairman in the company's 143-year history.