Manuel “Manolo” Arroyo, group president of the Coca-Cola Company’s Asia Pacific region, has been promoted to the position of global chief marketing officer.

Arroyo officially assumes the top marketing role on January 1.

Manolo ArroyoManuel “Manolo” Arroyo

Arroyo was named group president of Coca-Cola’s Asia Pacific group last year. He previously led the company’s Mexico business. Prior to that, he was president of Coca-Cola’s South East and West Asia business unit and also served as general manager of Coca-Cola Iberia franchise unit.

Arroyo started his Coca-Cola career in 1995 in Madrid and went on to become global brand manager for its Bottled Water & Fresca/Quatro brands in Atlanta three years later.

Arroyo’s appointment comes as the soft drink giant experiences a broader restructuring of its executive leadership and operations. Coca-Cola’s global marketing duties had previously been handled by chief growth officer Francisco Crespo, who announced his retirement today after a three-decade career with the company.

With Arroyo’s promotion, the soft drink giant has now reinstated the global CMO role more than two years after nixing the title in early 2017. The alignment of global marketing under Arroyo is intended to more closely integrate marketing duties within operations, the Coca-Cola Company said today in a statement.

Arroyo will continue to serve as president of Coca-Cola’s Asia Pacific group.