PepsiCo has a new chief marketing officer for North American beverages. Greg Lyons, formerly senior-VP marketing, was named to the role. He replaces Seth Kaufman, who has moved on to become the president of the company's North American nutrition business.

A PepsiCo spokeswoman confirmed the changes to Ad Age after they were earlier reported by Beverage-Digest.

Mr. Kaufman had held the CMO job since September 2015 when he was promoted after Simon Lowden moved on to take over as the company's president for global snacks and insights. In his new job, Mr. Kaufman will oversee brands including Quaker, Tropicana, Naked and KeVita.

"He is a top talent for us and we wanted to continue to grow him," Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston told Beverage-Digest in an interview. "The nutrition businesses tend to be very marketing intensive. We really want to bring in a big time marketer to run these businesses and Seth is one of the best we have."

As CMO, Mr. Lyons will oversee sodas, waters, teas, energy and ready-to-drink coffee drinks in the U.S., according to PepsiCo. His tenure at PepsiCo includes a stint as VP-marketing for Mtn Dew.

PepsiCo's North American beverages division grew organic revenue by 1% in the fourth quarter, matching the 1% growth for all of 2016, according to the company's fourth-quarter earnings report this week. Wells Fargo cited "overall strong results from all North America units" as a positive for PepsiCo in its note to investors this week about the company's fourth-quarter results.