John Paul Austin was Chairman, President and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. From 1962 to 1981. Austin was instrumental in building Coke’s international presence. This was dramatically exhibited by his development of an exclusive agreement to market Coke in China in 1978. During his tenure as Coke’s third CEO, the company produced 15 consecutive years of market value growth from $567 million in sales to a $5.9 billion - an unprecedented growth that has not been replicated.