PepsiCo on Thursday announced that Gatorade President SARAH ROBB O'HAGAN is leaving the company, the "latest executive movement in PepsiCo's Americas drink division, its largest business," according to Paul Ziobro of MARKETWATCH. O'Hagan, who has served as President since early '11 after holding the title PepsiCo Global CMO of Sports Nutrition for two-plus years, is leaving to become President of fitness chain Equinox. Concurrent with O'Hagan's departure, PepsiCo is naming DEBRA CREW President of Americas Beverages, a division that encompasses Gatorade. O’Hagan has been “credited with turning around the sports drink's sales in recent years by focusing marketing toward teen athletes." She centered marketing of the brand “toward high-school athletes, trying to recapture a demographic that had gravitated away from Gatorade.” O'Hagan also “expanded Gatorade beyond drinks to include items like gels to consume before a workout and protein drinks to have afterward.” Crew will bring “a deeper experience in the packaged-foods space to Gatorade than Ms. O'Hagan, who came to Gatorade from athletic-goods giant Nike” (MARKETWATCH.com, 8/16). Equinox on Thursday in a release said O’Hagan “will lead an aggressive domestic expansion strategy to maximize the continued success of the growing company, including its family of brands" (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 8/16). O’Hagan earlier this year was named a SportsBusiness Journal "Forty Under 40" HOFer (THE DAILY).
