Coke CEO James Quincey joined Future Smarts after a visit that morning to the New York Stock Exchange, where he and other executives celebrated Coca-Cola’s 100th anniversary as a public company by ringing the opening bell. Quincey now is in his third year as CEO of Coke. He was additionally named chairman of the board in April. Quincey joined Coke in 1996 and has spent the majority of his career in Latin America and then Europe before becoming COO under former CEO Muhtar Kent in August of 2015. Quincey’s focus as CEO has been to grow brand Coke while diversifying the company’s portfolio to everything from coffee drinks to plant-based offerings. Early this year, he closed on the acquisition of UK-based Costa Coffee, a chain of cafés stretching across Europe...

This story is a recap of highlights from his Future Smarts conference appearance Dec. 9 in New York.

BD held its annual Future Smarts conference on Dec. 7 in New York City. The program focused on the implications of massive changes this year to the North American non-alcoholic beverages landscape. New leaders have taken over all three of the largest soft drink makers -- Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Keurig Dr Pepper -- since  2017. Acquisitions of Dr Pepper Snapple by Keurig Green Mountain, Costa Coffee by Coke and SodaStream by PepsiCo have all signaled a more aggressive approach to portfolio transformation. Meanwhile