Jacksonville, Florida-based Acosta, a full-service sales and marketing agency in the CPG industry, has appointed Brian Wynne as its new CEO. Wynne is working closely with Darian Pickett, who will remain with the company and assume the role of CEO of Acosta’s North American Sales Agency. This change will allow the company to accelerate its growth, service execution and acquisition strategy.
Wynne is a seasoned senior executive with more than 30 years in the packaged goods industry. He has held executive positions in organizations spanning several categories, both in traditional CPG companies as well as service-centric businesses.
He spent more than 20 years working in various leadership roles in the Coca-Cola organization, culminating with his role as president of the North American Still Beverages Unit. He also served as CEO of U.S. Nutrition and North American president for the Nature’s Bounty Company, and most recently, served as interim CEO of the Keebler business.
“Brian is a proven leader with a track record of leading CPG organizations by intently focusing on understanding consumers, while building capabilities and business plans that result in increased sales and profits for clients,” said Grant LaMontagne, chair of the Acosta Board of Directors. “The board is thrilled to welcome his level of talent to Acosta, and we are confident that his depth of experience and his team-oriented, results-focused leadership style make him a natural fit to take the helm as CEO. We look forward to watching him in action and inspiring our Acosta team to deliver even stronger results for clients and customers.”
“As a former Acosta customer, I have firsthand knowledge of the value that Acosta’s sales and marketing services deliver to brands and retailers, and I have long admired the company’s deep commitments to its clients and customers,” Wynne said. “Throughout my career, I’ve focused on driving sustainable sales and profit growth both for the organizations I’ve served, as well as their partners. I firmly believe the best way to achieve success is to have a customer-focused strategy driven forward by teams who have a relentless focus on great execution and innovative solutions. I’m looking forward to continuing that tradition at Acosta, an organization that believes in its people and their abilities. Working alongside Darian and the rest of our team, I know that we can work to both make the current business even stronger, while also identifying new avenues of growth.”
LaMontagne continued, “In his new capacity as CEO of our North American Sales Agency, Darian will be focused on helping our clients and customers influence the shopper through Acosta’s unparalleled service models. Darian has done exceptional work over the past year helping to transform the organization and to best position Acosta for growth into the future. We look forward to continuing to leverage his incredible insights and knowledge of all aspects of Acosta’s business gleaned over his 29-year career at the company.”
‘Transformative year’ for Acosta
“It has been a transformative year for Acosta and following the completion of our successful recapitalization in January, Acosta continues to focus on attracting industry-leading talent, improving our client and customer engagement to best understand their needs and driving executional excellence,” Pickett said. “Despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Acosta has not missed a beat in serving our clients or taking advantage of the many opportunities the company can now pursue with a strengthened balance sheet. I believe Acosta is poised to enter into a new chapter of growth, unifying and strengthening its platform in order to deliver highly competitive, innovative solutions to meet its core client needs better than any other player in the industry, and I’m looking forward to partnering with Brian to lead the charge forward.”
