Cadbury Schweppes chief exec steps up to chairman

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Cadbury Schweppes yesterday announced that John Sunderland, its chief executive, is to step aside to become chairman. He will be replaced by Todd Stitzer, the former head of its US soft drinks operation.

Mr Sunderland's move, which was unexpected, defies what is expected to become recommended corporate best practice following the imminent publication of a government review into corporate governance. He will take up the new role at the company's annual shareholders meeting next May, when Derek Bonham, the current chairman, will end his three-year term.

Mr Stitzer, a 50-year-old US citizen, joined Cadbury in 1983 as a lawyer. He was president of the group's Dr Pepper/Seven Up soft drinks arm from 1997 to 2000, since when he had spearheaded the company's acquisition strategy. He is likely to have been heavily involved in the company's takeover bid for Adams, the US chewing gum group being auctioned by Pfizer.

Although a Cadbury spokesperson defended Mr Sunderland's move upstairs as "a company tradition", the irony of such a precedent existing at a company headed by the father of UK corporate governance – Sir Adrian Cadbury – was not lost on observers.

Sir Adrian, whose work in the Nineties helped to make Britain the corporate governance capital of the world, was the first person to suggest that the role of chief executive and chairman should be split. When Derek Higgs, the former banker charged with reviewing the role of non-executive directors in the wake of the Enron collapse, announces his findings early next year, he is widely expected to recommend the complete independence of company chairmen.

The Cadbury spokesperson added: "Even Higgs acknowledges that different companies do actually benefit from different situations. We have had the pattern [of chief executives becoming the chairman] in the business for the last 30 years."