Keurig Dr Pepper Restructures; Makes Strides on Sustainable Packaging Goals

Keurig Dr Pepper made a series of leadership changes that include several executive members assuming new responsibilities.

The changes, which are being implemented in order to enhance the No. 52 consumer goods company’s speed-to-market and decision effectiveness, will go into effect Nov. 1.

Chief supply chain officer Fernando Cortes will retain his current responsibilities and assume leadership and oversight for the beverage concentrate manufacturing operations under development in Ireland.

Ozan Dokmecioglu, currently CFO and president, international, will also retain his current finance and IT responsibilities and take on leadership for the Canadian and Mexican markets.

Derek Hopkins, currently chief commercial officer, will take the new role of president of cold beverages. In addition to taking responsibility for the company’s portfolio of cold beverages, he’ll lead brand marketing and innovation. He’ll also have oversight over all elements of Keurig Dr Pepper’s distribution network, customer management across brands and channels, and all commercial functions.

Mauricio Leyva, currently president, international and business development, will take the role of president of coffee. Leyva will assume leadership of the company’s coffee and appliance portfolios, including brewer design, engineering and supply chain, marketing and innovation for the Keurig brand and the company's owned and licensed coffee brands, the away-from-home business, and its e-commerce platform.

Andrew Springate, chief marketing and concentrate officer, will assume leadership of the beverage concentrate business. He will report to Hopkins.

Chief beverage concentrate officer Jim Trebilcock will retire at the end of this year, while Andrew Loucks, president of Keurig appliances, will leave the company at the end of the year after supporting the transition to the new structure. 

"Two and a half years since the launch of Keurig Dr Pepper, with all key metrics delivered at or above our merger thesis, we have the unique opportunity to leverage our deep bench of executive talent to set up our management team for long term success," said Bob Gamgort, chairman and CEO.

Separately, the beverage company shared packaging plans for its Snapple and CORE brands. The two brands are transitioning to bottles made of 100% recycled plastic, expected to decrease Kuerig Dr Pepper’s annual virgin plastic use by about 46.3 million pounds. The bottles will feature the How2Recycle label, part of the standardized system adopted by a coalition of consumer goods companies.

Snapple is currently available in 100% recycled plastic 16 oz. bottles in West Coast markets and will continue to roll out in phases across the country through early next year. CORE bottles will be on shelves beginning in early 2021.

Twenty percent of the packaging materials used in Keurig Dr Pepper’s 125-brand portfolio is currently made from post-consumer recycled (PCR) content, and the company has set a goal of 30% PCR packaging by 2025. This transition increases the total by about 4 percentage points.