Doug headshot

Doug Ivester

  • Executive-at-Large
  • Former CEO, The Coca-Cola Company
  • President, Deer Run Investments, LLC
417 Correll Hall

Biography

M. Douglas (Doug) Ivester is president of Deer Run Investments, LLC. He began his career at Ernst & Ernst (a predecessor organization of Ernst & Young), leading its team for The Coca-Cola Company. He joined Coca-Cola in 1979 as assistant controller and director of corporate auditing, and in 1981 he became the youngest vice president in the company’s history. Two years later he was elected senior vice president of finance, and in 1985 he was elected CFO at the age of 37. Doug was elected chairman of the board and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Coca-Cola Company on October 23, 1997. He retired from The Coca-Cola Company in 2000.

In his 20 years with the company, Doug was an architect of significant successful changes, including dramatic shifts in the company’s financial policies and the creation of a global anchor bottler network.

Doug chairs the audit committee of SunTrust Banks and is a member of the board of directors of S1 Corporation. He is a trustee of Emory University, chairman of the board of the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, a trustee of Brenau University, a member of the board of directors of The West Paces Hotel Group, LLC, and a member of the board at Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta. Doug is also a retired managing trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation.

In 1969, Doug graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia with a bachelor of business administration in accounting.