Coke taps British exec as new No. 2

Education: Bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from the University of Liverpool

Family: Wife, Jacqui, son, Sam, 15, and daughter, Gaby, 13.

Employment: Has worked at Bain & Co., was a partner at Bain spinoff The Kalchas Group. Recruited by Coca-Cola in 1996 to be director of Learning Strategy for the Latin America Group. Named president of Coke's Europe Group in 2013.

Atlanta ties: Worked in Atlanta from 1996 to 1998, before moving to Mexico and then Argentina for work at Coke.

Coca-Cola has named the head of the beverage giant’s Europe Group as its new president and chief operating officer, a move seen by many as an attempt to groom a successor for Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent.

As the company’s second in command, James Quincey, 50, will focus on recharging sales — including punching up its marketing and improving productivity — while Kent, 62, will concentrate on long-term strategy, innovation pipeline and capital structure.

Coke has not had a chief operating officer or president since 2008.

Quincey takes the slot at a time when consumers increasingly are choosing waters, teas and energy drinks over sugary drinks and the soft drink industry is being blamed by health advocates for the nation’s obesity epidemic.

Volume sales of core products Coke and Diet Coke have struggled since their peak in the 1990s. But recent price hikes, better marketing and the rollout of smaller 7.5-ounce versions of the drinks have improved profitability, creating optimism that the company is moving in the right direction.

Quincey’s promotion is the latest in a shuffling of the leadership deck at Coke. Just three years ago, Kent divided the company into three groups — the Americas, international and bottling — which some observers say created a race among possible Kent successors.

Quincey’s elevation also came with the announcement that Ahmet Bozer, who headed the international group and was considered a strong candidate to rise higher, is retiring at age 55. Bozer, a 25-year Coke veteran, will remain at the company until March.

In addition, Irial Finan, president of the bottling unit, and Sandy Douglas, who leads North America — the company’s largest market — will now report to Quincey instead of Kent, as they had previously.

“Coke has a number of talented executives and the elevation of Quincey to COO is evidence of that fact,” said Duane Stanford, editor of Beverage Digest. “It’s too early to tell if Quincey is the heir-apparent but it gives Muhtar Kent another strong resource to help guide Coke higher during its transition year.”

In a call with media, Kent dismissed succession chatter as “inappropriate” and said the company is lucky to have a “deep bench of strength” among its leadership. Quincey’s promotion received unanimous backing from Coke’s board, Kent said.

For his part, Quincey said the troubles with Diet Coke in particular — his favorite drink — can be turned around by working harder to educate consumers about the safety of aspartame, a sweetener archrival Pepsi just dropped from its flagship diet soda. Coke is sticking with it.

Quincey, who was born in London but has lived all over the world, said the artificial sweetener has gotten a bad rap. He said European consumers had doubts about aspartame until there was more education, and that now diet soda sales growth are outpacing their regular counterparts in Europe, though both are growing.

Quincey, who lived in Atlanta from 1996 to 1998, said he’s excited to be moving back.

“I’m definitely looking forward to it being warmer,” he said.