Crown Holdings plans to promote the president of its Americas division, Djalma Novaes, Jr., to executive vice president and COO July 1, resulting in a cascading effect for other leadership announcements.
At that time, current COO Gerard Gifford will shift to executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Gifford, who has been COO since 2017 and has been with Crown since 1983, plans to retire early next year.
Novaes has been with Crown since 1998, and since 2015 he has led the Americas division, the company's largest business unit. He previously held other leadership roles at the company, including vice president of operations for the North American beverage can business.
"Under Djalma's leadership, in addition to more than doubling segment income, the Company has strengthened its competitive position across each market it serves in the Americas. Djalma's strategic vision, coupled with his deep operational and commercial expertise, makes him well-suited to take on this expanded leadership role,” Crown CEO Tim Donahue said in a statement.
In addition to overseeing Crown’s Americas and European divisions, Djalma will take responsibility for global sourcing as well as CMB Engineering, the company's can manufacturing equipment business.
Also on July 1, Gary Gavin will move up from his current role of president of the North American beverage can business to president of the Crown Americas division. Gavin joined Crown in 2023 after working for 29 years at International Paper, most recently as vice president and general manager of the North American container division.
Under Gavin’s leadership, Crown's North American beverage can business has “undergone a period of significant capacity expansion, resulting in strong sales and income growth,” according to a company news release.
During the company’s first quarter earnings call in April, executives reported a 2% increase in beverage can volumes in the Americas and expectations for a strong summer selling season. That continues Crown’s beverage growth trend in the region that executives mentioned on earnings calls last year. In May, Crown announced it would add a third line to a beverage can plant in Brazil to meet demand there.
Crown also announced a leadership shuffle in another region last week. On July 1, John Rost will become president of the Asia Pacific region, replacing Carlos Baila, who is stepping down for personal reasons. Rost has been with the company since 1997, including as a senior vice president who drove innovation at the company’s technology centers. He also was instrumental in forming the current sustainability team, according to a news release.
