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CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, John Brock, to Speak at Commencement

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Approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students will be participating in Georgia Tech's 233rd commencement ceremonies this weekend. John F. Brock III, CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, will address the undergraduate ceremony Saturday, May 2, in the Georgia Dome at 9 a.m. and Erroll B. Davis Jr., chancellor of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, will address the doctoral and master's ceremony on Friday, May 1, in the Georgia Dome at 7 p.m.

Brock was born in Moss Point, Mississippi, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1970 and 1971, respectively. After graduation, he joined Procter & Gamble and in 1983 was recruited by Cadbury Schweppes to head technical and operational functions in North America. In 1988, he was promoted to the head of marketing for global beverages at Cadbury Schweppes.

He was named chief operating officer of Cadbury Schweppes and chairman of Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group's Board of Directors in 2000. Later that year, he was named Beverage Industry's Executive of the Year.

In 2003, Brock was named CEO of Interbrew, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. In 2004, he and his team orchestrated the combination of Interbrew with AmBev of Brasil to form InBev, the largest brewer in the world by volume, and Brock was named CEO. Global brands of InBev include Stella Artois, Becks and Brahma.

Brock joined Coca-Cola Enterprises as CEO in April 2006. The largest marketer, distributor and producer of Coca-Cola products in the world, Coca-Cola Enterprises sells approximately 80 percent of The Coca-Cola Company's bottle and can volume in North America. The company is the sole licensed bottler for products of The Coca-Cola Company in Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco and the Netherlands.

In April 2008, Brock was named chairman of Coca-Cola Enterprises. He also serves as chairman of the Americas for the International Business Leaders Forum and as a trustee on the international IBLF Board. Brock previously served as a director of Dow Jones & Company, The Campbell Soup Company and Reed Elsevier, Plc in London. A distinguished alumnus of the College of Engineering, he has served on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and is currently serving on the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees. He is also on the Board of Visitors for Owen Business School at Vanderbilt University.

Over the years, the Brock family has given generously in support of Georgia Tech. This philanthropy has resulted in the creation of the John F. Brock Endowed Scholarship in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and the Brock Family Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cancer Nanomedicine at Georgia Tech; and the Anise McDaniel Brock Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cancer Nanomedicine at Emory University.

Brock and his wife, Mary, have three children: Rebecca, John, and Major.

As chancellor, Erroll Davis is responsible for the state's 35 public colleges and universities, approximately 280,000 students, 40,000 faculty and staff, and an annual budget of $6.1 billion. The University System also has administrative responsibility for the Georgia Public Library Service, which manages the state's 58 public library systems.

Davis took office in early 2006. Previously, he had served as chairman of the board of Alliant Energy Corp. - an energy holding company with $8.3 billion in total assets and annual operating revenues of $3 billion - since 2000. Davis joined Alliant in 1998 as president and CEO. After retiring from those positions in 2005, he retained the chairman's post until his move to the University System.

Prior to the creation of Alliant Energy, Davis served as president and CEO of WPL Holdings from 1990 to 1998. From 1978 to 1990, he rose through the senior management ranks at Wisconsin Power and Light Company, starting as vice president of finance and ending as CEO and president.

Davis' higher education experience includes serving as a member of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents from 1987 to 1994, and as a former chairman of the board of trustees of Carnegie Mellon University, of which he is a life member. He presently serves as a member of the Southern Regional Education Board and the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago.

A member of the board of directors of General Motors BP PLC and Union Pacific Corp., Davis serves on the National Commission on Energy Policy in addition to numerous professional associations and civic organizations. He is a former member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Board (2004-2008).

Davis and his wife, Elaine, established the Davis Family Foundation, which makes annual grants to numerous students in need. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including recognition as one of Georgia Trend magazine's "100 Most Influential Georgians" in 2007, the Atlanta Business Chronicle's "100 Most Influential Atlantans" in 2006 and 2007, one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks in Corporate America" in 2005 by Black Enterprise magazine, one of the "Top 50 Blacks in Technology" at the Black Engineer of the Year 2005 Awards Conference, and the Carnegie-Mellon Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 2004.

Named one of the "50 Most Powerful Black Executives in America" by Fortune magazine in 2002, Davis received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business in 1993, the same year he received a Bronze Medal in Financial World's "CEO of the Year" competition. In addition, Davis was honored by the magazine U.S. Black Engineer as the "Black Engineer of the Year" in 1988.

A native of Pittsburgh, Davis holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.

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  • Created By:Matthew Nagel
  • Created:04/29/2009
  • Modified By:Fletcher Moore
  • Modified:10/07/2016