Ellis, who is a former U. S. Army officer serving in the 101st Airborne, was most recently senior vice president of conversion, overseeing manufacturing, transportation planning and third-party logistics for Coca-Cola Refreshments. He was responsible for a 12,000-person team producing 2.1 billion cases of beverages from 79 company-owned facilities, 36 contract manufacturing facilities and 64 third-party warehouses.