WATERBURY, Vt.-Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), parent company of the Keurig brand of coffee products, has named Brian Kelley president and CEO.
Kelley, who will assume his new role on Dec. 3, will also become a member of the GMCR board of directors. He will succeed Lawrence Blanford, who announced to the company that he planned to retire in February. Blanford has been working with the board in seeking out a successor.
Kelley described GMCR as “a company with strong character and compelling purpose, coupled with strong brands and products about which consumers are passionate. With its truly disruptive Keurig brewing technology, GMCR’s accomplished something unique in the world of consumer products: It is changing consumer behavior by changing the way we brew and enjoy coffee.”
Kelley will join GMCR after a career with Coca-Cola. He had served as chief product supply officer of the company’s Coca-Cola Refreshments unit since October 2012, and had been named president of Coca-Cola Refreshments in September, to be effective on Jan. 1, 2013.
Blanford had been president and CEO of GMCR since 2007, when he succeeded the company’s founder, Bob Stiller.