Pepsi-Cola North America (PCNA) and Pepsi-QTG Canada announced the following leadership changes involving two of its most capable executives. The moves will take effect in early December.

Pepsi-QTG (Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade) Canada president Tom Bene is returning to PCNA as senior vice president of sales and system transformation, reporting to PCNA president and CEO Dawn Hudson. In this new role, Bene will lead PCNA's sales organization and the development of retail sales and customer strategies. A 16-year PepsiCo veteran, Bene has a broad range of experience across sales, marketing and general management. He has headed Pepsi-QTG Canada since 2004,. Prior to running the combined organizations in Canada, Bene spent two-and-a-half years as chief operating officer of SoBe. He previously held senior sales and marketing posts at PCNA, including vice president-marketplace initiative development (MID), vice president-national retail sales and vice president-Southeast Division.

Dave Burwick is succeeding Bene as president of Pepsi-QTG Canada, reporting jointly to QTG president and CEO John Compton and Hudson. Burwick has been senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Pepsi-Cola North America since 2002 -- overseeing brand marketing, innovation, consumer promotions, sports marketing and consumer insights for PCNA. He joined Pepsi in 1989 as an assistant brand manager for Diet Pepsi and later helped Mountain Dew become “the fastest-growing major soft drink of the 1990s.” He also forged a groundbreaking Internet marketing alliance with Yahoo!, developed a promotional partnership with Apple's iTunes and served as executive producer of Mountain Dew's upcoming snowboarding documentary, First Descent. Succession plans for PCNA's marketing organization will be announced shortly.

"Tom and Dave are exceptionally talented executives who will continue to build value across our businesses," said Hudson. "Tom's successful track record in sales and general management at headquarters and in the field makes him uniquely qualified for this new assignment. Dave's forward thinking led to some of the most innovative programs in our history. He's leaving our marketing organization in terrific shape, and he's ready for this expanded role."

"Tom and his team have had a great run in Canada while achieving record share for our Tropicana, Gatorade and Quaker Foods businesses," said Compton. "We have every confidence that our combined businesses will continue to flourish under Dave's leadership in Canada."