Roberto Carrato Reflects on Two Decades at Spirits Giant Diageo

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Roberto Carrato didn’t accept the first chance he had to come to Diageo. But after over two decades in-house at the global spirits company behind many of the world’s most iconic brands, he’s glad he accepted the second. The present chief financial officer for Central America, Caribbean, and Venezuela has worked through five promotions over his twenty years, and learned how to lead people in the process.

The CFO jokes that his path to becoming a financial leader had nothing to do with numbers; it was his language skills. Carrato landed his first treasury department job in Venezuela’s tight labor market at a telecom company that needed someone who could communicate with their home office in Italy, but in italian. Carrato the son of two Italians is trilingual in Italian, Spanish, and English. 

“It wasn’t because I showed such promise in finance,” the CFO says, smiling. “But that is how I started my financial career, so I’m grateful I had the chance.”

Trust the Process

Carrato refers a few times to “trusting the process,” letting things play out as they need to, and not overthinking the path. His communication style is a reflection of this philosophy; there isn’t an ounce of pretense or show. Carrato is the person he is, not in a way that demands attention, but in a way that denotes his comfort in his own skin. This, in turn, makes the people he’s communicating with feel at ease. The CFO, in his career, believes in letting things play out, and he seems to favor the long game.

The future leader entered Diageo in a supply finance role that, by most internal measures, was small and somewhat overlooked. But Carrato was willing to let it play out. “It was a role that hadn’t really been developed,” he says. “So I could learn and grow without a great cost to the company.” He used the space to build relationships across the Venezuelan office and deepen his curiosity about the commercial side of the business.

He moved from supply finance into commercial finance—“the cool side of the business,” as he puts it—and then into a series of progressively larger roles in accounting, financial planning and analysis, and supply finance across markets.

By 2011, he transferred to Miami, where he continued expanding his remit across the Latin American region. Over time, his average tenure of three to four years in each position reflects a rhythm he values: close one cycle properly, then stretch into the next challenge.

Redefining the Finance Leader

Technically, nothing in finance stays mysterious for long, Carrato argues. “From the technical stuff and the financial stuff, you learn it and do your best to master them, because, mostly, they are always the same.” What does change—and what he has come to see as the true challenge—is people.

“As you grow in your organization, your success relies on the success of your team,” he says. That realization forced a mindset shift. He needed to stop seeing his job as simply delivering results and start seeing it as enabling others to deliver them. That means managing not just up and across, but also down, with equal care.

Carrato says his team’s well-being is non-negotiable. He doesn’t want them to ask him if it’s okay for them to take vacation, he wants them to notify him that they’re taking it.

He also insists that every team member has a clear development plan that they co-create together. They map strengths, identify development areas, and anchor both to the individual’s aspirations. That may be becoming a general manager, a finance director like him, or taking the corporate experience back into entrepreneurship. “It’s always clearly in the framework of delivering results for the company,” the CFO says, “but also making sure that there is something in it for them.”

“Working with Roberto is refreshingly straightforward—no hidden agendas, just clear thinking. He pairs a wealth of financial experience with genuine business acumen,” says Carlos Ricart, Corporate Controller, MercaSID, “and he’s always sharp enough to find the win/win. Smart, pragmatic, and reliable, he’s the kind of CFO you want on the other side of the table.”

Carrato is energized by Diageo’s culture and the quality of the people around him, both on his local team and at the shared services center in Bogotá. The brands, many of which are category leaders globally, add another layer of pride.

Knowing Your Roots

The CFO’s pride is even more evident when he talks about his family. His own children are working on becoming trilingual. They don’t speak English at home, and Carrato is gradually introducing Italian. It has been especially easy for his son Matteo to pick up. While Matteo’s neurodivergence has presented the family with unique experiences and challenges, Carrato is equally proud of the strengths he has developed, including a strong aptitude for languages, a natural facility with numbers, and an exceptional memory.

At home in Miami, Carrato is intentional about making sure his sons know where they came from. December in the Carrato household is reserved for Venezuelan holiday food, from hallacas to pan de jamon, and pasta still hits the table three or four nights a week, a nod to their Italian heritage.

Family visits to Miami are non-negotiable, not just for family bonding but so his kids never forget where their parents came from. Through language, food, and constant connection to extended family, Carrato is ensuring a connection back to Caracas and southern Italy for the next generation.

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