Linda Bethea joined Danone North America at the end of 2019 to lead the Marketing Center of Excellence for the US business. In this role, she leads a team of ~100 strategy, insights, analytics, media, and creative professionals to deliver best-in-class marketing plans across the enterprise.
Linda has more than 20 years of experience in key leadership roles across various food & beverage companies. Prior to Danone, Linda served as Vice President of Rum at Diageo, the world’s largest spirits company. While there, she oversaw the turnaround of Captain Morgan across North America by developing a new campaign that scored in the top 4% of all creative ever tested, expanding the brand into the shots occasion, and launching a line of merchandise to deliver revenue beyond the bottle.
Linda began her career at PepsiCo, where she spent 11 years in marketing, innovation, and sales roles across both Frito-Lay and Pepsi Beverages Company. Key highlights include: turning around the Lay’s potato chip brand, which became the fastest growing CPG brand in 2010; managing the global expansion of PepsiCo’s $4B iced tea portfolio as part of a joint venture with Unilever; and expanding the water portfolio into new spaces through the launch of LifeWtr premium water and bubbly sparkling water.
Linda earned her BA from Tufts University and her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she was President of the Women’s Business Association. She lives in Pelham, NY with her 10 year-old daughter, Finley.