Fastfood operator Yum! Brands has announced the appointment of Greg Creed as chief operating officer, reporting to chairman and CEO David Novak. Creed replaces Dave Deno, who resigned for personal family reasons.

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As COO, Creed will oversee the company’s operations, restaurant excellence, quality assurance, multibranding, and the Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Foods brands. Additionally, Creed will be forming and leading a dedicated team that will be charged to work with Yum! Restaurants International to help make Taco Bell a global brand. Brand chief operating officers will report dually to their respective presidents and Creed, just as they did under Deno.


 


Creed is a US and international restaurant industry veteran with a proven track record. Most recently, Creed has served as chief marketing officer at Taco Bell.

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“Greg Creed is the perfect choice to drive global operations improvement, strengthen the LJS and A&W concepts and further expand Taco Bell International. He has a great understanding of the power of customer focus, process and discipline and the commercial savvy that is required to drive both sales and profit growth,” said chairman and CEO David C Novak. “I am very gratified that we have an outstanding depth of talent and experience at YUM to seamlessly transition management responsibilities and grow deserving leaders.”


 


The company announced that Bill Pearce will replace Greg Creed as chief marketing officer at Taco Bell. Pearce was recruited to Taco Bell last year to serve as chief marketing officer-designate in anticipation of a potential future role for Creed. “Bill Pearce is a seasoned consumer marketing executive, with strong leadership skills, consumer insights and a proven track record of results. He has played an integral role on the team responsible for Taco Bell’s sales results this past year and will make an excellent chief marketing officer,” said Emil J. Brolick, Taco Bell president.

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