Muhtar Kent
Chairman & CEO, The Coca-Cola Company

Background Information- Muhtar Kent was born 1952 in New York City, New York, USA as his father Necdet Kent, was the Turkish consul-general. His father was called "Turkish Schindler" for risking his life to save Jews during World War II. After completing the high school at Tarsus American College in Mersin, Turkey in 1971, Muhtar Kent went to the United Kingdom to study at the University of Hull, and graduated in 1978 from the Department of Economics. Subsequently, he attended the graduate program in administrative sciences at the City University, London and earned his MBA degree at the Cass Business School.

Muhtar Kent returned then to Turkey to attend active military duty. Following his military service, he moved with US$1,000 in the pocket to the United States, where he was accommodated by his uncle in New York City.

Muhtar Kent is now president and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company, and serves on the Company's Board of Directors.

Mr. Kent joined The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 1978 and has held a variety of marketing and operations roles throughout his career. In 1985, he was appointed general manager of Coca-Cola Turkey and Central Asia. From 1989 to 1995, he served as president of the Company's East Central Europe Division and senior vice president of Coca-Cola International, with responsibility for 23 countries. Between 1995 and 1998, Mr. Kent served as managing director of Coca-Cola Amatil-Europe, covering bottling operations in 12 countries.

From 1999 until his return to The Coca-Cola Company in May 2005, he served as president and CEO of the Efes Beverage Group, the majority shareholder of Turkish bottler Coca-Cola Icecek. Headquartered in Istanbul and listed on the London and Istanbul Stock Exchanges, Efes is a publicly traded beverage enterprise whose Coca-Cola and beer operations extend from the Adriatic to the Pacific Ocean. Under Mr. Kent's leadership, Efes experienced extraordinary growth, with triple-digit revenue growth and a 250 percent increase in market capitalization. During that time, in addition to taking Efes Breweries International public on the London Stock Exchange, Mr. Kent also served as a board member of Coca-Cola Icecek.

Mr. Kent was named president and chief operating officer of The Coca-Cola Company's North Asia, Eurasia and Middle East Group from 2005 until early 2006, where he was responsible for the operations across a broad and diverse geographic region that included China, Japan and Russia. Mr. Kent served as president of Coca-Cola International through most of 2006, responsible for operations outside of North America, until his appointment as president and chief operating officer of The Coca-Cola Company, overseeing all operations of the business, including Bottling Investments. On July 1, 2008, he succeeded Neville Isdell as chief executive officer of the Company.