Ridgefield Park, N.J. - Samsung Electronics America has named Ralph Santana its North American headquarters chief marketing officer and senior VP.

Santana joins Samsung after a 16-year career with PepsiCo. During his Pepsi career, Ralph has had multiple international and domestic leadership roles in marketing, spanning various brand initiatives and product categories, Samsung said.

Most recently he was PepsiCo's flagship Pepsi-Cola trademark marketing VP, and was responsible for the relaunch of the brand with a new positioning, identity and communications strategy, and was responsible for the Pepsi Refresh Project.

In his new position, Santana will take leadership responsibility for Samsung's North America marketing organization, including the brand marketing, digital marketing, market intelligence and product innovation teams.

Santana will take on some of the additional responsibilities that had been assumed by David Steel after Steel was promoted to executive VP of Samsung NAHQ Marketing last year, according to a company spokesperson.

Santana and Steel report directly to C.S. Choi., president/CEO of Samsung Electronics America.

"As Samsung continues to build our overall brand preference in the minds of consumers, we look to strategic industry experts like Ralph who have extensive expertise in brand management in a very competitive environment," said Choi. "We are pleased to welcome Ralph into our organization and look forward to his contributions as we build on our success as the No. 1 technology company in the world."

"The Samsung brand is recognized across the globe, and I am thrilled at the opportunity to be a part of the development of that brand here in North America." stated Santana. "With the many exciting marketing initiatives from Samsung, I look forward to leading a team that has proven success in such an exciting industry. I hope to provide the same level of energy to the organization and enhance the delivery of the company's vision and value to consumers."

Santana has an M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.