Kent first joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1978 and held a variety of marketing and operational roles leading to his appointment as president of the East Central European Division in 1989. Kent held this position until 1995, overseeing 23 countries where, working closely with Isdell, he supervised the relaunch of Coca-Cola throughout East Central Europe in record time and quickly achieved market leadership in that geography, which the company maintains to this day. From 1995 to 1998, Kent was managing director of Coca-Cola Amatil Europe with bottling operations in 12 countries. From 1999 until his return to the company, Kent served as president and chief executive officer of the Efes Beverage Group, one of Europe's largest international beverage businesses, and managing partner of Coca-Cola Icecek, a public Coca-Cola bottling company with franchises in Turkey and surrounding countries.