Dive Brief:
- Guy Wollaert, chief technical and innovation officer of Coca-Cola Co., is the latest executive to be saying goodbye to the company, exiting at the end of the month.
- Wollaert had been with the company since 1992 and had been in his current executive post since 2011.
- Wollaert will be replaced by Ed Hays, who was most recently the company's vice president of Global Science, Regulatory, and Formula Governance.
Dive Insight:
The executive shakeup, one of several for Coca-Cola since the beginning of 2014, comes at a crucial time for the company. Coke is exploring new products, like Coca-Cola Life and Fairlife, furthering partnerships, such as Apple Pay, and even implementing marketing updates in Europe (more major) and the U.S. (just tweaks, as of now). As the new technical and innovation officer, Hays will have his hands full of new projects aimed at revitalizing the company's soda segment, especially after reporting mixed earnings last month.