The marketing executive widely credited with making Gatorade into the powerhouse brand it is will leave the beverage company after more than two decades, according to insiders. Cindy Alston,
chief marketing officer of Gatorade and Propel, will depart from them -- and parent PepsiCo -- to spend more time with family.
She will be replaced by Matt Knott, who will become vice
president-marketing for the division. His most recent job was as marketing director for Propel. Alston ascended to the CMO slot last year after taking Gatorade through some of its biggest growth
periods and helping make it the country's sixth-largest beverage brand.
She also ran the launch of Propel Fitness Water, the rollout of the lighter Gatorade Rain, and oversaw the "Is it in You" ad campaign from agency Element 79.
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