Good morning Yum! Brands, Inc. has advertised CFO Chris Turner in another example of an emerging succession to CEO trend in corporate management.
Yum, the parent company of household names such as KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, announced On Tuesday, Turner will start Executive on October 1st. Turner will compete with the current CEO David Gibbs, who informed the board in March about his intention to retire.
Gibbs, who has been a CEO since 2020, has been in several leadership roles in the company for 37 years, including President and CFO. He was also the chief architect of the restaurant development strategy of Yum and transformed the company into a capital-light, pure play franchisor.
The incoming and outgoing CEOs both had glowing words for each other on Tuesday. In A LinkedIn PostTurner thanked Gibbs for his instructions and called him a “mentor for me during my time at Yum, and it was incredible to work and learn alongside an industrial icon”. Gibbs wrote that during his partnership with gymnast “he has” demonstrated deep knowledge of our business, strong values and a clear commitment to our growth “.
Turner came to Yum in 2019 as a CFO, his first time in the role. Last year his position expanded to include the Chief Franchise Officer. Before that, Turner had senior roles PepsicoIncluding SVP and General Manager as well as SVP of the transformation for Pepsicos Frito-Lay North America business. Before that, he was spent more than 13 years at McKinsey & Company.
Yum rose 10 spots on this year Fortune 500 listWith a turnover of 7.5 billion US dollars in 2024. Turner is now commissioned to continue to deliver his secret sauce for brands as well Taco Bell– What achieved 1 billion US dollars in the operating profit for the first time in 2024.
“Under Turner we expect Yum to continue to take advantage of the strong growth opportunities of Taco Bell in the USA and internationally,” David Swartz, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, wrote in a Tuesday note. Swartz expects a smooth transition from managers, since Yum Turner will remain as a consultant for CEO and Gibbs by the end of 2026.
According to Morningstar, there are also some challenges for gymnasts. Yum has to improve KFC and Pizza Hut sales in the USA, where both brands are exposed to strong competition. And despite the difficult economic conditions, the company will continue to invest in the international growth of Taco Bell and KFC growth. Morningstar looks at Yum’s shares that have a value of $ 145 without changing the rating of capital allocations.
It is unclear whether Yum has appointed a new CFO in Turner’s absence and the company did not respond to my investigation on this matter. Swartz told me that he probably thinks an external search for a financial officer is likely.
“CFOs are moving a lot these days and I am sure that Yum could find a strong outdoor candidate,” he said.
Yes, CFO turnover Is safe on the advance. You can find more Fortune 500 moves Here.
Sheryl Scot
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Ranking
Paul Joachimczyk was appointed CFO by Sonoco Products Company (NYSE: SON), a sustainable packaging provider, effective on June 30th. Joachimczyk was previously SVP, CFO and corporate secretary of the American Woodmark Corporation. Previously he was VP of Finance for Topbuild Corp. And held financial management positions with Stanley Black & Decker and General Electrics Health and Capital Markets.
Kevin McKenzie CFO was called by CFO von Ensora HealthA software and service provider. McKenzie joins pure healthcare at Ensora Health, where he worked as a CEO and CFO. Previously, he had leadership roles at Simplenexus, Processmap and Advancedmd, where he headed financial restructuring and operational integration for these SaaS companies.
Big deal
Since companies accelerate in the direction of technological business models, the Tech C-Suite is still transformed, so A new survey Published by Deloitte CIO program.
The technical leadership grows. Half of the technology leader surveyed today gives four or more technical C suite managers in their organization. According to Deloitte, this width and expanded influence of technology signals in the company.
Cooperation is the key. The lists surveyed open up the common tech strategy together with their colleagues as essential for thriving as a technology leader in the next 18 months.
According to the technology leaders, there are talent shortage and qualification gaps. Fifty percent say generative AI skills are the urgently needed competence in their organizations.
And almost seven out of ten respondents in the technology, the respondents, will increase the headquarters of their technology function in the direct reaction to generative AI.
The results are based on a survey of more than 600 tech managers in the USA, including the main information officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Information Security Officers as well as Chief Data and Analytics Officers.
Go deeper
The US Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates stable Meet laterGregory Daco, chief economist at EY, said CFO Daily. Officials continue to stress the data dependency, and the bar for installments of installments remains high, said Daco.
“What has changed is the type of risk: the combination of new trade tariffs and the potential for energy -oriented price pressure could shift the inflation violation to the end of the year,” he said. “This will probably increase the careful attitude of the political decision -makers.”
Daca said that a September cut is still on the table. “But it increasingly depends on material softening of the economy, since inflation risks are built up,” he added.
Oversighted
“We see the beginning of a race towards Enterprise Ai -Dominance among the Goliaths of the Tech World.”
– Tomasz Tunguz, founder and general manager of Theory Ventures, wrote in A Assets Opinion. For 14 years he was managing director at Redpoint Ventures.
