Coca-Cola has appointed its chief operating officer Henrique Braun as its next CEO.
Braun will succeed James Quincey – who is to transition to executive chairman at Coca-Cola after nine years as its CEO – in March 2026.
Braun has served as Coca-Cola’s COO since January of this year. Prior to this he was president of international development for the soft drinks giant, overseeing seven of its nine operating units. Between 2020 and 2022 he ran operations in Latin America, and before that was president of its Brazil operating unit.
He joined Coca-Cola in 1996 and has also held supply chain, new business development, marketing, innovation, general management and bottling operations roles in markets across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
“I’m honoured to take on this new role and have tremendous appreciation for everything James has done to lead the company,” Braun said. “I will focus on continuing the momentum we’ve built with our system. We’ll work to unlock future growth in partnership with our bottlers. I’m excited about the future of our business and see huge opportunities in a fast-changing global market.”
Quincey became Coca-Cola CEO in 2017 and has chaired its board of directors since 2019. During his tenure, Coca-Cola has grown revenues by more than $10bn to $47bn. Shares, meanwhile, have climbed by 62% – more than double that of rival PepsiCo. He also led the business through the Covid pandemic.
Quincey had “led the transformation of the business as a total beverage company, driven by a focus on staying closely connected to consumers”, Coca-Cola said in a statement.
Some of the soft drinks giant’s biggest deals under his tenure include the $5.6bn purchase of sports drink Bodyarmor in 2021, and the $5.1bn capture of Costa Coffee in 2018.
Coca-Cola is currently looking to offload the latter for a price of around £2bn ($2.7bn), with Quincey admitting in October it had expected “much more growth” from the coffee chain.
“I’m stepping down as CEO after a 30-year career with the company, and I have an appreciation of what a privilege it has been to serve this great and enduring business,” Quincey said. “Henrique is a trusted and highly experienced business partner, and he’s the right leader to steer the company and the Coca-Cola system for future growth and success.”
David Weinberg, Coca-Cola’s lead independent director, added: “James has done what a strong CEO should do – he has focused on the future and developing and empowering the next set of leaders who will take Coke forward. Henrique has shown he is the right leader for the future of Coca-Cola.”
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