Executive who led Diet Coke, New Coke launches remembered as humble leader

At that time, Dyson was at a career peak, serving as president and chief executive of Coca-Cola Enterprises, a company he took public in 1986, and was then the largest bottler for the Atlanta beverage brand.

In a career that spanned more than four decades, Dyson climbed the ranks at Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Enterprises, overseeing key moments such as the launch of Diet Coke and Cherry Coke, along with the famous flop that was New Coke.

Credit: source

Credit: source

Throughout his life, Dyson was also an elite squash player and triathlete who skied black diamond runs in Telluride, Colorado, until almost 80, and a high-achieving but humble executive deeply devoted to his family and spirituality, his daughter Susie Cogan said.

“The man had unstoppable energy, but he really did live it,” Cogan said of Dyson’s message to Georgia Tech graduates. “He gave everything his all … I always saw how he made time for the things he felt were important.”

Dyson died Aug. 9 in Atlanta at the age of 90 after respiratory complications from pneumonia. A memorial service is planned for Sept. 4, according to his obituary.

“Brian Dyson was one of the most important leaders in our company’s history, and his legacy lives on in how he helped shape Coca-Cola as it is today,” Coca-Cola CEO Henrique Braun said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Credit: AJC staff

Credit: AJC staff

Born in 1935, Dyson grew up on a 140-year-old family farm in the Santa Fe province of Argentina, a place he nurtured and felt connected to throughout his life, Cogan said. The farm represented a sort of safety net for Dyson that allowed him to unabashedly pursue life’s opportunities with a certain freedom and unattachment, she said.

“He was able to take some of those risks in life because he didn’t take it all so seriously,” she said. “His advice was always pretty short, and he would say: ‘Go for it, just go for it.’”

After required military service in Argentina, Dyson received a degree from the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas in Buenos Aires and later attended Harvard Business School.

He joined Coca-Cola in Venezuela in 1959, beginning a career that took him throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States.

In 1978, Dyson was named president of Coca-Cola USA, the company’s domestic operating division later called Coca-Cola North America, a role in which he oversaw some memorable product launches.

Cogan said her father was at the front line of the “cola wars” and never shied from taking risks.

“He was instrumental in two of Coke’s boldest bets during the past five decades — Diet Coke and New Coke,” said Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of trade publication Beverage Digest.

Diet Coke remains one of the top U.S. carbonated sodas, while New Coke, released as a new formula for Coca-Cola’s namesake soda, blew up gloriously.

“Diet Coke has stood the test of time through everything from massive sweetener innovation to cultural change,” Stanford said. “And the lessons from New Coke remind executives even today not to take the brand’s equity for granted.”

Credit: sour

Credit: sour

In 1986, Dyson was named the first president and chief executive of Coca-Cola Enterprises, which was formed when Coca-Cola rolled up several large bottling operations.

Dyson led Coca-Cola Enterprises through an initial public offering, which was valued at $1.5 billion and the largest U.S. IPO at that time, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Years later, that business would evolve into Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, and Coca-Cola has since sold off many of its bottling investments.

Dyson retired from Coca-Cola Enterprises in 1994 and soon pursued another lifelong passion: writing.

He penned his first book, “Pepper in the Blood,” about a female track star’s quest for gold in the Olympic Games. Dyson called the writing process a “tough pursuit” in a 1996 interview with The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution.

“The glory and the terror is that you make yourself very vulnerable,” he said about writing. “It’s very different from business in that there’s nobody else in the room. Just you and the blank page. Whatever you put down there is 100% you.”

Credit: sou

Credit: sou

After Coca-Cola Enterprises, Dyson also founded Chatham International Corp., where he invested in and advised entrepreneurs.

“It was an opportunity to interact with entrepreneurs and people with ideas and different businesses, and that kept him young,” Cogan said. “He was always willing to learn something new.”

Later, in 2001, Dyson returned to mainline Coca-Cola as vice chairman and chief operating officer, the No. 2 leadership spot. He was tasked with helping turn it around amid declining stock prices and competition from rival PepsiCo. He held that position until 2003.

Braun, who first joined Coca-Cola in 1996 and became CEO this year, said Dyson was a great mentor to him in the early 2000s.

“I’ll always appreciate what he did for the company and how he personally influenced me at a critical time in my career,” Braun said.

Muhtar Kent, who served as Coca-Cola’s CEO from 2008 to 2017, said Dyson’s legacy goes “well beyond titles and accomplishments,” according to an online tribute that was confirmed by the AJC.

“He brought to everything he did a remarkable combination of entrepreneurial spirit, intellectual curiosity, toughness, imagination and an unmistakable zest for life,” Kent said. “He was, in every sense, a citizen of the world.”

Dyson is survived by his wife of 59 years, Penny; two daughters, Cogan and Tania Dyson; son-in-law, Milo Cogan; and two grandsons.

“He lived such a full life,” Cogan said. “But he always remained true to who he was — a very humble person — even though he reached the pinnacle of a business career.”