About

Betty Ivanoff first arrived at Coca-Cola Amatil in 2016, having previously undertaken a wide range of legal roles both in private practice and in-house, the latter spanning engineering, construction, building materials, sugar and FMCG sectors in both private and ASX listed companies. Immediately before joining Coca-Cola Amatil, Ivanoff assumed her first general counsel and company secretary role with Australia’s largest listed bulk handler and trader of grain in the country, GrainCorp in 2008.

Here she presided over what she explains as being the ‘diversification, growth and acquisition’ of the company building a strong in house team who serviced the global business with ‘great success’ for over eight years. Also during her time at GrainCorp, which Ivanoff cites as being a particular career highlight, she elaborates on the journey she took within the organisation and how it helps her in her current role: ‘From the personal growth and development, to the team we built, to the board and management teams I worked with and the transactions we undertook – it was the best ride of my life. Many of us call that “the purple patch” and I feel fortunate to have been with the company during that time. Defending a very controversial takeover bid which was the subject of much public and political debate was hands down one of the greatest highlights of my career’.

In terms of her current position of group general counsel Coca-Cola Amatil – of one of the largest bottlers of non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages in the Asia-Pacific region – she describes how she has been overseeing a project to build a legal department that covers all jurisdictions the company operates in. Supplementing this, Ivanoff describes how the business is relying on her to ‘steer an effective operating model which is customer focused, agile, adaptable and connected to the company’s strategic imperatives’ and the combined effect is Ivanoff leading a ‘journey to shape, service and safeguard’ the Coca-Cola Amatil business. Explaining the rigorous and close attention to detail with which she has been executing her work, she says she has ‘moved closer to our business operations in every way, pulled apart out processes and reporting, allowed the light to shine in the darkest corners and built business practices and reporting frameworks which are highly regarded by management and our board of directors’.

Reflecting on her two years of experience in the global soft drinks giant, Ivanoff has seen her team ‘change and move quickly’ in defining success, focusing on business needs and the perception of the legal team by all stakeholders. She concludes: ‘We have come together and aligned as one team whilst not losing focus on what is also important locally for each of our country teams. The last two years have been about resetting – getting our foundations and team right, and preparing to launch’.