Vinita Bali has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of Britannia Industries Ltd.

She will assume charge from January 3, 2005, said a media statement from the company which added that Nusli Wadia, chairman, and the board of directors of the company had approved her appointment.

Bali is a highly qualified manager with national and international experience. She received her Bachelor of Economics degree from the Delhi University andher MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai.

She also pursued further studies in business and economics at the Michigan State University on a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation and was selected to work as a graduate intern at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

She began her career with Voltas Ltd, a Tata Group company focusing on consumer products.

In 1980, Bali joined Cadbury India, where she had a successful career. Her performance in India earned her a position at Cadbury UK from 1984 to 1986. She came back to India for five years heading the marketing function as general manager, marketing.

In 1992, she was posted to Cadbury Nigeria as director, with responsibility for both sales and marketing. In 1993, she was named head of marketing, South Africa, which is Cadbury's third-largest market. She also served on the boards of Cadbury Nigeria and Cadbury South Africa.

The Coca-Cola Company chose it as its worldwide marketing director in 1994. She was responsible for worldwide strategy for Coke and one of the key players in helping the soft drink giant double its growth rate.

In 1997, she was promoted by Coke as vice president of marketing for Latin America. In 1999, she moved to a profit and loss responsibility as president of the Andean division with retail sales in excess of $1 billion, covering Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. She was made responsible for transformational change encompassing business direction and organisational culture.