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CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises Speaks at Commencement

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Approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students participated in Georgia Tech’s 233rd commencement ceremonies on May 1 and 2, 2009. The CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, John F. Brock III, BSChE 70, MSChE 71, addressed the undergraduate ceremony and Erroll B. Davis Jr., chancellor of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, addressed the doctoral and master’s ceremony.

Mr. 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, Mr. 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 Mr. Brock was named CEO. Global brands of InBev include Stella Artois, Becks, and Brahma.

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

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

Status

  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Josie Giles
  • Created:05/20/2009
  • Modified By:Fletcher Moore
  • Modified:10/07/2016