Major reshuffle at Coca-Cola in January

Sameer Wadhawan will work closely with 15 franchise bottling partners in India and South West Asia region

Beverages major Coca-Cola on Monday announced senior management reshuffle in Indian operations with Vice President Human Resources, Sameer Wadhawan given the responsibility to lead the newly created function of Franchise Capability and Business Transformation.

Manu Narang Wadhwa, who has joined Coca-Cola from American Express where she served for nine years, will succeed Wadhawan, the company said in a statement.

In his new role, Wadhawan will work closely with Coca-Cola's 15 franchise bottling partners in India and South West Asia region to build people capability, and help transform the business to become future-ready, it added.

Wadhawan will take over the new responsibility starting January, 2017 and continue to report to Coca-Cola India and South West Asia President Venkatesh Kini.

Commenting on the development, Kini said: "Over the last six years, Sameer has shaped the talent development and capability building agenda within the company. Sameer takes on this critical role of developing capabilities for the franchise bottling operations across the region."

The company said Wadhwa has over two decades of experience in driving transformational people strategies for growth, focusing on talent management, leadership development and transformation agendas.

Prior to American Express, she worked at GE in various roles.