McCormick & Co. Inc. on Jan. 9 promoted 11-year veteran Lawrence Kurzius to the newly created job of chief operating officer and president. Kurzius will continue to report to Alan Wilson, who remains chairman and CEO.

He will have responsibility for McCormick's businesses worldwide. In addition, he will continue to lead the global quality, supply chain and R&D corporate functions and act as president of global consumer and president for North America.

Kurzius has been on the management committee since 2007. He has held roles of increasing responsibility including president-U.S. Consumer, president of the international businesses -- including Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), China and Asia Pacific Zone (APZ) -- and most recently president of global consumer, president of the Americas and China, and chief administrative officer. Prior to joining McCormick, he was the CEO of Zatarain's, which McCormick acquired. He earlier held marketing positions with Uncle Ben's, a division of Mars Inc., and the Quaker Oats Co. He holds a BA in economics from Princeton University.

Malcolm Swift, president EMEA and APZ, will take on the additional role of president-global industrial and will report to Kurzius for EMEA and APZ regions and to Wilson for his new role in global industrial. Swift also is a member of the management committee and has been with McCormick since January 2005.