Keurig Dr Pepper has hired Russ Torres as chief executive of its coffee spinoff, plucking the executive from Kimberly-Clark. Keurig Dr Pepper on Thursday said Torres, currently president and chief operating officer of Kimberly-Clark, will join the Frisco, Texas, company on Nov. 3 as CEO of its coffee operating unit prior to spinoff.
Torres, who has been Kimberly-Clark’s president since May 2025, is currently heading the consumer-products company’s integration planning for its $40 billion acquisition of Tylenol maker Kenvue. Kimberly-Clark said Jeff Melucci will assume oversight of the integration plans and programs, while Nelson Urdaneta will oversee its synergy delivery plans.
Keurig Dr Pepper, which last year unveiled plans to buy Peet’s Coffee parent JDE Peet’s for $18 billion and to spin off its Peet’s and Keurig businesses into a pure-play coffee company, said Torres will lead the integration of the coffee operations and serve as CEO of the spinoff after the separation, targeted for early 2027.
Keurig Dr Pepper initially had tapped former finance chief Sudhanshu Priyadarshi to be CEO of the coffee spinoff but late last year said Priyadarshi wouldn’t be taking the post. The company then said JDE Peet’s boss Rafael Oliveira would lead the spinoff, but Oliveira left to take the reins at Dutch brewer Heineken.
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing