News

McDonald's names new APMEA president, London Olympic staff

May 24, 2012

McDonald's has announced that Dave Hoffmann, 44, currently senior vice president for Restaurant Support in McDonald's Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region, has been elected president of McDonald's APMEA by the McDonald's board of directors, effective July 1.

Hoffmann, a 16-year McDonald's veteran, succeeds Tim Fenton who was recently promoted to McDonald's chief operating officer, also effective July 1.

"Throughout his career, Dave has demonstrated outstanding leadership and strategic insight. Jim and I are very confident in Dave's abilities to deliver on the growth opportunities in the APMEA markets and to build our business and brand in this important region. Dave will continue to provide the dynamic and results-oriented leadership that has fueled APMEA's success thus far," said McDonald's CEO-elect Don Thompson, who replaces retiring CEO Jim Skinner.

Hoffmann will be based in Singapore and report to Fenton. He will be responsible for the operations of 5,500 McDonald's restaurants in APMEA. Fenton will continue to oversee Japanese operations.

Prior to his time in APMEA, Hoffmann served as senior director for both North America and Global Strategy and Execution. Hoffmann began his career as restaurant manager in the U.S. and went on to hold a variety of U.S. Field and Operations positions. He also worked as a McDonald's crew member for two years during high school in Missouri.

Hoffmann holds an undergraduate degree from Indiana University and a MBA from the University of Chicago. He also is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

London Olympic staff

Additionally, the 2012 McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew has been announced, and includes 2,000 of the company's best managers and employees from 42 countries. They will be stationed at the chain's four new Olympic venue restaurants in London during the Games.

"People are the heart and soul of our company, from the managers and crew behind the counter, to the people who train them," said Richard Floersch, McDonald's executive vice president and chief human resources officer. "We share the Olympic ideals of teamwork, excellence and being your best and celebrate these across our more than 33,000 restaurants around the world."

The London 2012 Games will represent the largest ever McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew since the program began at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Each participating country determines criteria for selection, such as excellence in teamwork, outstanding leadership and delivering the highest level of service to customers.

The four McDonald's Olympic venue restaurants will require 470 staff at one time to serve the thousands of anticipated guests during the Games. The world's largest McDonald's restaurant, located in the Olympic Park, will be managed by two McDonald's London business managers -- Murat Ocalan and Tariq Zaied.

Games Makers volunteer program

Additionally, up to 70,000 Games Makers volunteers have been chosen to support the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

For the first time ever, McDonald's is the presenting partner of the London 2012 Games Makers program. McDonald's used its 1,200 restaurants in communities across the UK to raise awareness about the program and attract volunteers from around the country, resulting in more than 240,000 total applications for the program.

Utilizing the company's training curriculum from Hamburger University -- with seven locations across the globe, including the UK Training Centre -- McDonald's dedicated two of its UK educators, Lorraine Thom and Ben George, to work with LOCOG to help create the training modules for the Games Makers program.

McDonald's is offering participants who are either unemployed or took part in the UK Government's Personal Best Program the ability to earn a professional qualification that may be used as a unit toward an apprenticeship in the hospitality industry throughout the country.

Read more about staffing and training or operations management.