Pepsi appoints John Compton CEO North America

Pepsi appoints John Compton CEO North America

Pepsi appoints John Compton CEO North America
 
Indra Nooyi, in one of her first acts as incoming chief executive officer at PepsiCo Inc., promoted a veteran executive to head all of the company's North American operations.

John Compton, 45 years old, will take the newly created position of CEO of Pepsi North America, effective immediately. Mr. Compton has worked his entire 23-year career at the food and beverage giant, the bulk of that spent rising through the ranks at the Frito-Lay snack unit where he ultimately served as president and vice chairman. Since 2005, he has been president and CEO of Pepsi's Quaker-Tropicana-Gatorade division.

Chuck Maniscalco, 53, president of the Gatorade/Propel business, succeeds Mr. Compton as leader of the Quaker-Tropicana-Gatorade unit.

Ms. Nooyi, 50, who has served as the Purchase, N.Y., company's president and chief financial officer, will take over as CEO Oct. 1 from Steve Reinemund, who is retiring. Mr. Reinemund, 58, will remain chairman through May 2007.

The new structure will mean fewer division executives reporting to Ms. Nooyi as CEO. Dawn Hudson, president and CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America; Al Carey, president and CEO of Frito-Lay; Tom Greco, president of PepsiCo sales; Ron Parker, senior vice president of human resources and global diversity; and Mr. Maniscalco will all report to Mr. Compton. Mr. Parker will also report to Ms. Nooyi on global diversity.

In a statement, Ms. Nooyi said she chose the new structure to replicate the success of Pepsi's fast-growing international division, where all of the company's food and beverage businesses are consolidated under one executive, Michael White, who is also Pepsi's vice chairman. Mr. White will report to Ms. Nooyi.

"Our individual businesses are headed by extraordinary leaders who are doing an excellent job running their operations, yet there is unquestionably more value to be realized by approaching our consumers and retail partners as a fully integrated enterprise," Ms. Nooyi said.

Bryan Spillane, an analyst at Bank of America Equity Research, said the new management structure should enable Pepsi to better react to changing market conditions. But he cautioned that "given the talent glut at Pepsi, this, as with any organization change, creates the risk that some executives may be dissatisfied with their role."

Pepsi shares were up 39 cents to $64.94 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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