Debra Ann Crew (born December 20, 1970) is the president of Diageo North America. She is also a board member of

Mondelez International Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...

, and the former president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and headquartered at the RJR Plaza Building. Founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the second-largest tobacco com ...

. She previously held senior management positions at

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the man ...

Mars, Incorporated Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021. Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest priv ...

, and

Dreyer's Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. ("Dreyer's"), is an American ice cream company, founded in 1928 in Oakland, California, where its present-day headquarters office remains. The company's two signature brands, ''Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream'' and ''Edy's ...

Education and military service

Crew earned her bachelor's degree from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

, and her

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

from the

University of Chicago Booth School of Business The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...

. She served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1993 to 1997 in the field of

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from ...

, achieving the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Business career

Crew began her business career at

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

in 1997, where she filled a number of management positions. After seven years at Kraft, she moved to

, a subsidiary of

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, sin ...

, where she worked from 2004 to 2008, rising to Senior Vice President of Marketing, Frozen Snacks. From 2008 to 2010 she was General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer of Petcare US, at

. Crew joined

in April 2010 as president, Western European Region, headquartered in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

. In August 2012 she was named to the newly created position of President of Pepsico Americas Beverages, which incorporated responsibility for the North American operations of the

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develope ...

and

Tropicana Tropicana may refer to: Companies *Tropicana Entertainment, a former casino company that owned several Tropicana-branded casinos *Tropicana Products, a Chicago-based food company known for orange juice Hotels and nightclubs *Tropicana Casino & Re ...

brands, the Latin America Beverages operation, the North America warehouse sales operation, and the Beverage Growth Ventures Group. In August 2014 she was named president and General Manager of PepsiCo North America Nutrition. In October 2014 Crew departed PepsiCo to become president and Chief Commercial Officer of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. She had been a director of the company since December 2013. The switch from the food to cigarette industry surprised observers, as well as the timing, since she had headed PepsiCo's North America Nutrition for only two months. In September 2015 her title changed to president and COO. As COO she oversaw $8.6 billion of the company's estimated $10.7 billion in post-merger sales. On January 1, 2017 Crew became the CEO of

Reynolds American Reynolds American, Inc. is an American tobacco company which is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco and is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States. Its holdings include R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, American Snuff Compa ...

, taking over from former CEO

Susan Cameron Susan M. Cameron (born October 31, 1958) is an American businessperson who is the former chairman, president, and CEO of Reynolds American, Inc. Early life and education Cameron was born in Schenectady, New York and raised in Fort Lauderdale. ...

. She is one of the few women CEOs of a major American tobacco company, in what was an unusual transition in which a major company appoints two women CEOs consecutively. In April 2019, Crew was appointed a non-executive director to Diageo's board. In July 2020, she replaced Deirde Mahlan as president of Diageo North America.

Memberships

In 2013, Crew was named to the board of directors of

Stanley Black & Decker Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a Fortune 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware and provider of security products. Headquartered in the greater Hartford city of New Britain, ...

Honors and recognition

She was named to the '' Fortune'' list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2014 and 2015. Crew has been named four times to ''Fortune'' magazine's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, ranking No. 44 in 2014, No. 46 in 2015, No. 47 in 2016 and No. 34 in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crew, Debra R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company people PepsiCo people Women corporate directors American corporate directors American women business executives 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen University of Denver alumni University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni 1970 births Living people United States Army officers American chief operating officers American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies American women chief executives

Education and military service

Business career

Memberships

Honors and recognition

See also

References