
He replaces Richard Evans, who became president of PepsiCo UK and Ireland in August, after Salman Amin was promoted to the global role of executive vice-president of sales and marketing.
Ellington, who joined in the summer of 2008, oversaw the launch of Walkers' 'Do Us a Flavour' campaign.
Prior to taking up his role at PepsiCo, he was head of strategy at Mars UK, where he spent 17 years. His other roles at the company included UK head of marketing for bitesize, boxed and tablet.