Mark Whitacre
Executive Director | t-factor
Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.
Mark Whitacre is Executive Director of the t-factor initiative at Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. From 2003-2019, Mark served as COO of Christian Business Men’s Connection (CBMC). From 2006-2013, he was the COO and Chief Science Officer at Cypress Systems, Inc., a California biotechnology company where Mark still serves on their advisory board today.
After completing his B.S. and M.S. degrees at Ohio State University, Mark earned his Ph.D. degree at Cornell University in biochemistry. He worked as an executive for multiple Fortune 500 companies, including Ralston Purina, Degussa (Evonik), and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). He was recruited at ADM when he was 32 as the President of the Biotech Division. Mark has extensive international business experience, having lived in Germany for four years working for Evonik at their world headquarters in Frankfurt.
Mark is considered the highest-ranked executive of any Fortune 500 company to become a whistleblower in U.S. history. He wore a wire for 3 years for the FBI and was responsible for uncovering the ADM price-fixing scandal in the early 1990s. His story inspired the major motion picture "The Informant" starring Matt Damon as Mark.