The Cola-Cola Company has announced Brit James Quincey will be its new CEO, a role expected to include landmark moves by the drinks company to cut sugar.
Quincey, a Liverpool University graduate who has been president and COO of the company since August 2015, will take over from Muhtar Kent in May 2017.
The new boss, who served as president of the Northwest Europe and Nordics business unit from 2008 to 2012, is already credited with spearheading changes at Coke, including reducing the sugar and calorie content in drinks, introducing smaller bottle sizes and diversification. He also played a key role in the acquisition of Innocent in 2009.
“The future in terms of the beverage industry in some parts of the world - yes, there’ll be less added sugar, and yes, we think we need to push ahead with smaller packages and reformulations and innovations,” Quincey said after his appointment was announced.
Before rising to the top European job at Coke, Quincey, 51, worked for consulting company Bain in the UK, but went on to join a spinoff from Bain and McKinsey called Kalchas Group, which took him to the US.
He worked in a series of operational roles in Latin America with Coca-Cola until he was appointed president of the South Latin Division in 2003.
Last year, when asked about the responsibility of Coca-Cola leadership, in the face of criticism in the war on sugar, he said: “A leader has to lead. If there are doubts out there in the general public, whether based on perception or reality, the leader has to stand up. The reality will be that employees will have the same doubts. It’s unlikely that the people who work for Coke are completely different from their friends and all the people they interact with.”
“We are certain that James Quincey is prepared for these new responsibilities and is the absolute right choice to lead our company and system into the future,” said Kent, who has held the drinks giant’s top job for the past eight years and will continue as the chairman of Coca-Cola’s board of directors.
Quincey added: “I am committed to continuing my strong partnership with Muhtar, our talented management team and associates, and our valued bottling partners to continue this momentum and capture the enormous opportunities in front of us.”
Analysts at Bernstein described Quincey’s appointment as “positive on all fronts”.
“Quincey is a proponent of price/mix, has driven asset sales, and is in strong supporter of the company’s cost-cutting (although we think more can be done),” they said. “Meanwhile, Kent was initially resistant to much of the positive change.”
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