Two longtime Coca-Cola leaders are retiring from their roles on the company’s board of directors.
Donald Keough, Coca-Cola’s president and chief operating officer from 1981 to 1993, and James Williams, former chairman and chief executive officer of SunTrust Banks, will not seek re-election at the beverage giant’s annual meeting in April, the company said Thursday.
Keough, 86, has held many positions at Coca-Cola, including leading its foods division from 1971 to 1973 and as chairman of its former North American bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, from 1986 to 1993. He also was chairman of Columbia Pictures, which was once owned by Coca-Cola. Keough retired as president and chief operating officer of the company in April 1993.
Williams, 79, has served as a director at Coca-Cola since 1979 and has been chairman of the board’s Finance Committee since 1985. Coca-Cola said his role as director has been to connect the company and SunTrust, which financed the sale of Coca-Cola in 1919 and guarded its secret formula in a vault for more than 80 years.
At SunTrust, Williams also has served as chairman of the Executive Committee from 1998 to 2004.
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