• by Danielle Oster , January 14, 2025

Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) announced an executive leadership restructuring, including the addition of a new role and an expanded remit for a recent arrival responsible for leading its marketing efforts.

"KDP is evolving our leadership structure to drive the next phase of our growth," CEO Tim Cofer said in a statement. "We have been intentional about building a deep bench of talent, and we are fortunate to have leaders who are seasoned, forward-thinking and ready to step into these critical roles.”

Drew Panayiotou will take on expanded responsibilities as CMO. Last November, the company hired Panayiotou  to lead marketing for its  $9 billion portfolio in the cold refreshment beverage category, as well as across enterprise-wide marketing “centers of excellence” for KDP. As CMO for the company, his remit has expanded to KDP’s coffee business, which includes the flagship Keurig coffee pod brewing brand.

KDP also appointed Eric Gorli to the role of  president, U.S. refreshment beverages. A KDP veteran of nearly a decade, he joined the company back in 2015 and the company credits him with playing a key role in developing its pricing, promotional and growth strategies -- most recently serving as chief commercial officer.

Gorli will replace seven-year KDP veteran Andrew Archambault in the role leading the U.S. refreshment beverages department, which includes carbonated soft drinks like flagship Dr Pepper, still beverages, and energy drinks. Archambault will help oversee the leadership transition before leaving KDP on Jan. 31 for an unspecified opportunity outside of the company.

The company also appointed Sean Cronican, who first joined KDP in 2016, to a role as chief customer officer. Cronican will be tasked with leading all customer-facing teams across KDP’s U.S. customer partnerships,, including ecommerce, fountain foodservice and grocery.

Additionally, the company appointed Justin Whitmore to the role of president, KDP Energy. Whitmore joined KDP from Tyson Foods back in 2021, and previously served as chief strategy officer. The creation of the new leadership role follows KDP’s October announcement that it would pay nearly $1 billion to acquire an ownership stake in Ghost Energy to expand its portfolio in the category.

KDP also recently expanded  its existing agreement with C4 Energy parent company Nutrabolt – where Whitmore has served as a board member since January of 2023 – to include energy drink brand Bloom. The company agreed to pay $863 million for a 30% equity stake in Nutrabolt back in December of 2022.