James Quincey
Born
James Robert B. Quincey

(1965-01-08) 8 January 1965 (age 59)[1]
London, England, UK
EducationUniversity of Liverpool (BSc)
TitleChairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company
PredecessorMuhtar Kent
SpouseJacqui Quincey
Children2

James Robert B. Quincey (8 January 1965) is a British businessman based in the United States.[2] After starting his career at Bain & Co,[3] he joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1996[4] and was later named chief operating officer (COO). He is now the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) at the company.[5]

Early life

James Robert B. Quincey was born on 8 January 1965[2] in London, England, UK and lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, US for three years when his father was a lecturer in biochemistry at Dartmouth College.[6] By age five, they had moved to Birmingham, England. He attended private King Edward's School, Birmingham and has a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from the University of Liverpool.[6] He is fluent in Spanish.[3][4][7]

Career

Joining Coca-Cola

After working with Bain & Co and a smaller consultancy,[3] he joined Coca-Cola in 1996.[4] With Coke he has lived in Latin America[7] and worked for Coke in Mexico, where he led the acquisition of Jugos del Valle.[4] In 2015, Quincey became the president of Coca-Cola.[8][9] He outlined a plan to have five category clusters for brands in the company.[10] He also changed management and the entire Coke hierarchy.[11]

Chairman and CEO

Quincey in a discussion about plastic pollution. Video from World Economic Forum.

He was named CEO in December 2016.[12][13][14][15] He became CEO the following May when Muhtar Kent retired. Among his first acts as CEO, he announced reducing 1,200 corporate positions as part of a plan to invest in new products and marketing and restore the year's revenue and profit growth from four to six percent.[4] Quincey also said in interviews that he wanted to rid the Coke company's culture of over-cautiousness concerning risk,[16] and that he intended to further diversify Coke's portfolio by accelerating investments in startup businesses.[17] He later launched a plan to recycle a bottle for every bottle sold by 2030.[18] On 24 April 2019, Quincey was elected chairman of the board.[19] In December 2021 Quincey announced the planned discontinuation of many of its slower selling products, such as Tab and Zico coconut water.[20]

Personal life

Quincey and his wife Jacqui have two children and live in London, UK.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ "Stocks". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 March 2017.[dead link]
  2. ^ a b Shea, Kenneth (9 December 2016). "Coca-Cola COO James Quincey to Succeed Kent as CEO". Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas. Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d Whipp, Lindsay (21 May 2017), "James Quincey, Coca-Cola CEO, on why brands have to take a stand", Financial Times, archived from the original on 27 September 2023, retrieved 28 June 2017
  4. ^ a b c d e Grantham, Russell (6 May 2017), "New CEO's challenge: Make things go better with Coke", The Seattle Times, archived from the original on 27 September 2023, retrieved 28 June 2017
  5. ^ "Senior Leadership: James Quincey". The Coca-Cola Company. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Leith, Scott (13 August 2015). "A Q&A with James Quincey". The Coca-Cola Company. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  7. ^ a b Saporta, Maria (12 December 2016). "Former Coke CEO Isdell endorses James Quincey as next CEO". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  8. ^ Esterl, Mike (13 December 2015). "Coke President James Quincey Works Behind the Scenes to Cut Costs, Reverse Flagging Soda Sales". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  9. ^ Esterl, Mike (13 August 2015). "Coke CEO Gets a Deputy, and Possible Successor". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  10. ^ Farrell, Paul (22 April 2017), "Bank of America Beats", Barrons, retrieved 28 June 2017
  11. ^ Sarkari, John (4 January 2017), "Coca-Cola launches major senior mgmt shakeup", The Times of India, retrieved 28 June 2017
  12. ^ Reid, Rakim (12 December 2016). "Coke Chooses New CEO in 2017: James Quincey". Eastern Daily News. Archived from the original on 17 February 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  13. ^ "BRIEF-Coca-Cola says James Quincey to succeed Muhtar Kent as CEO in May 2017". Reuters. 9 December 2016.
  14. ^ "James Quincey to Become New Coca-Cola CEO in 2017". NASDAQ.
  15. ^ "Coke CEO Muhtar Kent hands reins to Quincey in widely expected move". Reuters. 9 December 2016.
  16. ^ Jennifer, Maloney (9 May 2017), "Coke's New CEO James Quincey to Staff: Make Mistakes", The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 28 June 2017
  17. ^ Whipp, Lindsay (9 May 2017), "New Coca-Cola CEO to increase start-up investments", Financial Times, retrieved 28 June 2017
  18. ^ Jennifer Kaplan and Anna Hirtenstein (19 January 2018). "Coke Plans to Recycle a Bottle for Every One It Sells by 2030". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  19. ^ "James Robert B. Quincey: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  20. ^ CNN: December 13th, 2021: Business:Risk Takers, Coca Cola's James Quincey:He killed some of Coke's most beloved brands. And he'd do it all over again
Business positions Preceded byMuhtar Kent Chair of The Coca-Cola Company April 2019–Incumbent Succeeded byIncumbent CEO of The Coca-Cola Company December 2016–Incumbent
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