Coca-Cola reshapes leadership to accelerate digital transformation

PEX Network’s key takeaways:

• The Coca-Cola Company has reshaped its leadership team to accelerate digital transformation.
• Coca-Cola is creating the new role of chief digital officer to unify digital, data, and operational excellence (OPEX) across the company.
• Coca-Cola is also creating two new market groupings that are designed to enhance focus on markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Coca-Cola announced a series of leadership changes to accelerate digital transformation and bring the business closer to consumers.

To unify digital, data, and OPEX across the company, Coca-Cola is creating the new role of chief digital officer. Sedef Salingan Sahin, currently president of the company’s Eurasia and Middle East operating unit, will take on this new position, leading the next chapter of Coca-Cola’s digital journey, the firm stated.

Coca-Cola is also creating two new market groupings that are designed to enhance focus on markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Last week, Coca-Cola’s soft drink rival PepsiCo formed a new, “industry-first” partnership with Siemens and NVIDIA to transform plant and supply chain operations through advanced digital twin technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

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Coca-Cola accelerates digital transformation

All appointments take effect March 31, 2026. Henrique Braun, currently EVP and chief operating officer, will become CEO, succeeding James Quincey, who will continue as executive chairman of the board.

In her new role, Sahin, who joined Coca-Cola in 2003, will integrate the company’s digital network and connect work across related functions. Digital strategy efforts, currently overseen by John Murphy in his capacity as president and chief financial officer, will transition to Sahin.

“The chief digital officer position is a pivotal new role for our future,” Braun said. “Sedef’s proven leadership will help shape how we digitalize the enterprise end-to-end, and over the next several months she will assess how to organize the teams responsible for digital across the enterprise to help strengthen execution, simplify how we work, and enable us to deliver for consumers with greater precision and speed.”

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Coca-Cola’s operational leadership changes

Coca-Cola’s two new market groupings will report into Braun. “These changes are intended to help equip our organization to handle the dynamic conditions we are seeing in markets around the world,” Braun said.

Sanket Ray will oversee the India and Southwest Asia operating unit and lead emerging large markets covering India, Southwest Asia, Greater China and Mongolia, and Japan and South Korea, while continuing as president of INSWA.

Claudia Lorenzo will oversee the Eurasia and Middle East operating unit and lead emerging multi-markets, covering Eurasia and the Middle East, ASEAN and South Pacific, and Africa, while serving as president of EME. 

“Sanket and Claudia bring deep regional experience and established leadership, which will be critical as we seek to tap into the immense growth potential we see across the markets they will lead,” Braun added.

In addition, customer and commercial leadership responsibilities will transfer from Murphy to Manolo Arroyo, who currently serves as EVP and chief marketing officer. Arroyo will become EVP and chief marketing and customer commercial officer.

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