The global beverage giant Coca-Cola recently named its new local head in China, the first change of leadership in the market since the company's strategic transformation in 2020.

French native Gilles Leclerc is named the president of Coca-Cola Greater China & Mongolia. Leclerc is to replace Vamsi Mohan Thati who has served as the same position since 2020.

The Chinese market remains a key growth engine for the beverage player. 

"We had good growth overall for China, despite some cities were affected by the pandemic, so China remains a good long-term opportunity," said James Quincy, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, at 2022 third quarter earnings conference call. 

"We have a good business there, good bottling partners and there was some resilience to the business in the quarter."

Prior to this role, Leclerc was the president of The McDonald's Division (TMD) of The Coca-Cola Company. 

With Leclerc's leadership, TMD has been growing business in nearly 38,000 restaurants in more than 100 markets around the world. 

He was responsible for guiding the strategic direction of the division and execution of major initiatives in key areas of the world to deliver profitable growth of the Coca-Cola systems and McDonald's. 

Prior to this role, Leclerc was the senior vice-president, TMD International.

Leclerc has served as general manager, key customers, for The Coca-Cola Company in China. In this position, he managed top national accounts, both retail and on-premise, with responsibility for category management, trade marketing, finance, HR, supply chain and capability teams.

Leclerc joined Coca-Cola in 1998 and went on to hold roles of increasing responsibility in France, China, Singapore and the United States. He led global customers teams such as Carrefour, Metro Group and Système U.

Leclerc holds an MBA from The Barney School of Business, University of Hartford in Connecticut.