Jim Dinkins to replace Sandy Douglas at Coca Cola North America in March 2018
Sandy Douglas – president of Coca-Cola North America (CCNA), is retiring effective March 2018, to be replaced by Jim Dinkins (pictured - starting Jan 1), who currently serves as president of the Minute Maid business unit and is chief retail sales officer for CCNA.
“While we were a little surprised to see Douglas retiring, particularly given the recent strong performance of his division and the great success he has had throughout his career, we acknowledge that with the North America refranchising process nearly complete, the timing is at least logical,” said analysts at Wells Fargo.
“Further, we understand that his retirement has been in the works for a while, so we're not sure there's much to be read into his departure other than perhaps the reality that following James Quincey's appointment as CEO, the potential to ascend to the top-spot at Coca-Cola is no longer viable.”
As for Dinkins, they added: “We believe his strong leadership of a key part of the non-carbonated soft drink portion of Coca-Cola's portfolio will support Coca-Cola’s relatively new CEO James Quincey and his goal to re-classify Coca-Cola as a total beverage company, not just one reliant and focused on carbonated soft drinks."
