Larry Young likes to say his blood is carbonated. The head of Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. figures he has sold every type of beverage — teas, juices, milk, soft drinks — around the world in his 30-some-year career, which took him from working as a youngster on delivery trucks in Springfield, Mo., around the world in the Pepsi bottling system.

In his current position he runs the nation’s third-biggest soft-drink maker with brands including Dr Pepper, A&W Root Beer and Crush.

Under his helm in May 2008, the Plano, Texas-based company was spun off from what was then Cadbury Schweppes PLC amid high commodity prices, a slumping stock market and increasingly frugal consumer.

Despite the tough timing, the company has been reaping the benefits of being on its own, being quicker to market and rolling out new products, which helped it increase its share slightly last year even as the $72.7 billion-a-year category declined.

Young spoke recently about the company’s spin-off, his leadership philosophy and trends for the future:

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