David Gibbs who had been recently working as the COO of Yum Brands has been promoted to the position of Chief Executive Officer. Gibbs will be succeeding Greg Creed who will be retiring at the end of 2019. 

Gibbs, who has been with the company since 1989, is a company veteran who has held several senior roles including CFO for three years and COO from early 2019. 

Creed, who will be retiring will continue in his role as the CEO until the end of the year and also serve as part-time adviser next year and remain on the company’s board. He has held the CEO role since 2015 and the company’s stock has more than doubled since Creed took up the leadership. 

Gibbs will start work from Jan. 1, 2020. He served as the Chief Strategy Officer when he redefined Yum’s global restaurant operations model. He was also at the helm of the Global Pizza Hut division. 

Yum Brands has more than 48,000 Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC restaurants spread across the globe. At this critical juncture in the fast-food chain market, even Yum Brands is facing a competitive market. In an effort to diversify their business, the Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum even bought a stake in the food-ordering and delivery services company GrubHub in 2018 in order to tap into the food delivery business. 

Image source:qsrmagazine