McDonald's Creates New Management Roles

McDonald's Corp. continues to shake up its management ranks as it seeks to simplify operations and win back customers in its home market.

The company, in a memo to employees and franchisees on Thursday, announced it is appointing Karen King to be chief field officer, a new role in which she and her team will work directly with franchisees to improve restaurant sales. Ms. King, formerly in charge of the company's eastern U.S. division, had been called out of retirement last fall to become chief people officer for the U.S. Now, she's being elevated into a critical role for the company at a time when relations with U.S. franchisees are severely strained. One of her direct reports is the vice president of franchisee relations.

McDonald's is also moving other executives into new roles intended to make the restaurants more relevant to consumers and run more efficiently.

The moves are the biggest management shuffle that new Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook has made since taking over in March, and is among several things he has done to show he is serious about reversing more than two years of sales declines in the U.S. He has announced plans to raise wages for workers at McDonald's company-owned restaurants, to remove certain antibiotics from chicken and to push for menu simplification and all-day breakfast.

"We are in a turnaround mode. We are on a journey to becoming a modern, progressive burger and breakfast restaurant to get ahead of customer expectations for the future," McDonald's USA President Mike Andres said in the memo, which was seen by The Wall Street Journal.

McDonald's said Chief Finance Officer Mike Soenke will expand his role, overseeing both restaurant development and supply-chain management to better determine how to make the right investments.

McDonald's also promoted Charlie Robeson, who now heads its U.S. company-operated restaurants, into the new position of chief restaurant operations officer. In his new role, he will "continue the important work around making our operations more simple and efficient," according to the memo. The company also named Erik Hess senior vice president of customer experience where he will focus on menu strategy. Mr. Hess was previously senior vice president of global consumer and brand strategy.

The company also announced the departure of veteran McDonald's executive Jim Norberg, who had most recently held the post of chief support officer for the U.S. business.

The latest changes come on the heels of McDonald's announcement on Tuesday that it hired former Obama administration press secretary Robert Gibbs to be its global communications chief and former Bacardi Ltd. and Unilever PLC marketing executive Silvia Lagnado to be its new global chief marketing officer.

Write to Julie Jargon at [e-mail]

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