The Coca-Cola Company Announces Retirement of Director

By Staff Writer Atlanta Trend

• Dec 31, 2024

Helene Gayle has retired from her duties as a director of The Coca-Cola Company.

Gayle had been a director of the company since 2013. She served as a member and former chair of the talent and compensation committee, and she was a member of the corporate governance and sustainability committee.

“I thank Helene for her 11 years of service and valued leadership for our company,” said James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. “Helene has had a distinguished career and has been a vital member of our board.”

Most recently, Gayle served as President of Spelman College in Atlanta, a leading liberal arts college. She began the position in July 2022 and recently stepped down.

Gayle also served as CEO, The Chicago Community Trust, a community foundation dedicated to improving the Chicago region through strategic grant making, civic engagement and inspiring philanthropy, from October 2017 to June 2022.

Gayle was CEO of McKinsey Social Initiative, an independent non-profit organization founded by McKinsey & Company, from July 2015 to September 2017.

She held the positions of President and CEO of CARE USA, a leading international humanitarian organization, from 2006 to 2015. From 2001 to 2006, she served as program director in the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gayle started her career in public health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1984, holding various positions, ultimately becoming the director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention in 1995.