Dive Brief:
- Coca-Cola announced that executive vice president and chief administrative officer Alexander B. Cummings will retire March 31, 2016 after being with the company for more than 18 years.
- Cummings was appointed to his current position in July 2008, and he has since played an important role as an executive sponsor of the company's attempts to improve productivity and carry out its goal of $3 billion in annual cost savings by 2019.
- Cummings joined Coca-Cola in July 1997 as deputy region manager for Nigeria and was named president of Coca-Cola’s Africa Group in 2001. From 2001 to 2008, he oversaw investments in marketing and infrastructure in 56 African countries and territories.
Dive Insight:
"With Cummings’ retirement, the role of Chief Administrative Officer will not be filled and the reporting structure for the global administrative functions will be realigned within the existing senior leadership team," according to a news release.
Coca-Cola has seen its share of struggles as consumers continue to shift away from soda, and it lost Food Dive's food fight with PepsiCo earlier this year.
This announcement is the latest in a slew of leadership changes Coca-Cola has seen in the past year. In August, the company named James Quincey president and COO after he served as president of Coke's Europe Group since 2013.
In July, Alan Boehme assumed the role of chief technology officer after former CTO Jim Scholefield moved on to become CIO at Nike Inc. In March, Coca-Cola appointed Darlene Nicosia as the next chief procurement officer, and Ed Hays replaced Guy Wollaert as chief technical and innovation officer. The company also named a new chief marketing officer, Marcos de Quinto, in October 2014.