Atlanta, Ga., USA - March 27, 2017, Atlanta, Ga., USA - Coca-Cola has announced a number of senior leadership appointments to facilitate structural changes within the company.
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Francisco Crespo, the president of the Mexico business unit, has been appointed to the role of chief growth officer.
Mr. Crespo served as Vice President of Operations for the Brazil business unit, as General Manager in Chile, as Commercial Director of Coca-Cola FEMSA in Buenos Aires, and as President of the South Latin business unit.
He joined the company in 1989 in Ecuador.
Mr. Crespo has served as President of the Coca-Cola Foundation in Chile, Director of AmCham (American Chamber) in Chile, Vice President of AmCham in Argentina, Director of the Lincoln School Association of the Fulbright Foundation, and as a member of the Young Presidents' Organization.
He also has served as a board member at J.R. Lindley, the Coca-Cola bottling partner in Lima, Peru.
An Industrial Engineer, Mr. Crespo graduated from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia.
He has also specialized in areas such as Finance, Marketing, Leadership and General Management.
Robert Long, currently vice president, research and development, will become chief innovation officer.
Mr. Long joined The Coca-Cola Company in April 2004 as Vice President, Global Packaging Platforms, and he played a key role in the development of contour aluminum bottles and new sustainable packaging.
In 2007, Mr. Long spent nine months establishing Global Category R&D roles to partner with Global Marketing in pipeline development.
In October 2007, he moved to Tokyo to lead R&D for Japan, a position he held until coming to Coca-Cola North America in August 2010 to lead R&D.
In 2012, Mr. Long also assumed North America responsibility for Technical Governance (Quality, Environment, Safety and Scientific & Regulatory Affairs).
Mr. Long began his professional career at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in technical roles in Laundry and Cleaning Products Research & Development, focusing on detergent process and formulation.
This included a five year assignment leading Cleaning Products R&D for South America, based in Caracas, Venezula.
After this role, Mr. Long became Associate Director Cosmetics R&D (Cover Girl & Max Factor), located in Baltimore, Maryland.
He later returned to P&G headquarters in Cincinnati, joining the Paper Division as an Associate Director for R&D Operations.
This led to him being appointed an R&D Director in Paper Product Development, which included a three year assignment leading Fem Care R&D for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, based in Frankfurt Germany.
After this assignment, Mr. Long returned to Cincinnati as the R&D Director for Folgers Coffee.
Mr. Long attended Princeton University, graduating with a Chemical Engineering degree. He obtained an MBA in Finance from Xavier University of Ohio.
He graduated from Woodberry Forest High School in Virginia. He is currently on the Board of Trustees for Woodberry Forest School.
Barry Simpson, currently senior vice president and chief information officer, will remain in his role but be elevated as a direct report to the CEO.
A nearly 30-year IT industry veteran, Mr. Simpson joined the Coca-Cola system in 2008 as Group CIO of the Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) Group, a major Coca-Cola bottler based in Sydney, Australia.
In this role he was responsible for the development and implementation of IT strategy for the CCA Group across multiple lines of business in six Asia-Pacific markets.
Mr. Simpson joined The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in January 2016 where he was responsible for overseeing IT services provided to all of the company’s business units worldwide.
Before joining the Coca-Cola system, he served in various IT leadership roles for Colgate-Palmolive based in Australia, Malaysia and the United States from 1990-2008. ■