PURCHASE, N.Y. -- PepsiCo said that Thomas R. Greco, 48, has been named president of PepsiCo sales, succeeding Al Carey, who was named president and CEO of the company's Frito-Lay North America (FLNA) division on June 26, following the departure of Irene Rosenfeld, whoas reported in CSP Daily Newswas named CEO of Kraft Foods Inc.
Greco, a PepsiCo executive with 20 years experience, most recently was senior vice president of sales at FLNA, PepsiCo's $10 billion snack and convenient foods business. In his new role, Greco will be PepsiCo's chief customer [image-nocss] officer, reporting to chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund, with accountability for selling PepsiCo's portfolio of beverages, snacks and foods across all retail channels. He will also assume responsibility for driving PepsiCo's Power of One cross-divisional sales strategy, leveraging the combined strengths and capabilities of all its businesses under a unified approach.
Greco's career with PepsiCo started in 1986 at Frito Lay Canada, where he held a variety of positions in sales and marketing and rose to become a vice president. After moving to Frito-Lay's U.S. business and serving as a region vice president in the Midwest, he was promoted to president of Frito Lay Canada in 1999. In late 2001, he was moved from Canada and named chief customer officer for FLNA. In 2003, he was promoted to senior vice president of sales.
PepsiCo and FLNA also announced that Randy Melville, 47, has been promoted to succeed Greco as senior vice president of sales. He has 11 years of PepsiCo sales experience at Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola, and most recently headed sales for Frito-Lay's South division.
In other company news, while Coca-Cola and Pepsi are usually bitter enemies, when PepsiCo got a letter offering to sell Coke's trade secrets, it went straight to its corporate rival, reported the Associated Press. Six weeks later, three people face federal charges of stealing confidential information, including a sample of a new drink from The Coca-Cola Co. and trying to sell it to PepsiCo.
The suspects arrested Wednesdaythe day a $1.5 million transaction was to occurinclude a Coca-Cola executive's administrative assistant, Joya Williams, who is accused of rifling through corporate files and stuffing documents and a new Coca-Cola product into a personal bag. Williams, of Norcross, Ga., and Ibrahim Dimson of New York and Edmund Duhaney of Decatur, Ga., were charged with wire fraud and unlawfully stealing and selling Coca-Cola trade secrets, federal prosecutors said.
Coca-Cola thanked Pepsi for its assistance. CEO Neville Isdell said in a memo to employees Wednesday that the company is cooperating with federal authorities. He said Coke will review its information protection policies, procedures and practices to make sure it safeguards intellectual property. Coca-Cola spokesperson Ben Deutsch said the formula for trademark Coca-Cola was not stolen in the theft.
PepsiCo provided Coca-Cola with a copy of a letter mailed to PepsiCo in an official Coca-Cola business envelope. The letter was from an individual identifying himself as Dirk, who claimed to be employed at a high level with Coca-Cola and offered very detailed and confidential information. Dirk was later identified as Dimson, the FBI said. Coca-Cola immediately contacted the FBI and an undercover FBI investigation began.
Prosecutors say Williams was the source of the information Dimson offered to provide PepsiCo. They say that Dirk provided an FBI undercover agent 14 pages of Coca-Cola documents marked classified and confidential. The company confirmed that the documents were valid and highly confidential and were considered trade secrets. Williams works for a senior Coca-Cola manager, though the company would not identify which one. The company also would not say if Williams has been fired.
Prosecutors said Dirk requested $10,000 for the documents. Later, Dirk produced other documents that Coca-Cola confirmed were valid trade secrets and highly confidential. He also agreed to be paid $75,000 for the purchase of a highly confidential product sample, prosecutors said. Then, on June 27, an undercover FBI agent offered to buy other trade secret items for $1.5 million from Dirk. The same day, a bank account was opened under the names of Duhaney and Dimson, and the address used on the account was that of Duhaney's residence, prosecutors said.
Video surveillance showed Williams at her desk at Coca-Cola headquarters going through files and stuffing documents into bags. She also was observed holding a liquid container with a white label, which resembled the description of a new Coca-Cola product sample, before placing it into her personal bag, prosecutors said. Coca-Cola later verified the sample was genuine and is a product the company is developing.
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