Staffing

Wendy's U.S. president departs to lead supply chain co-op

Photo: Wendy's

August 20, 2026 by Valerie Gritton

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Wendy's is restructuring its executive leadership to combat six consecutive quarters of declining U.S. same-store sales and a 12.5% drop in second-quarter traffic. In an Aug. 14 SEC filing, the company said Pete Suerken, president of U.S. operations, intends to resign to become president and CEO of Quality Supply Chain Co-op.

Wendy's said it plans to eliminate the U.S. president role and revive the global chief operations officer position. During the company's Q2 earnings call, Wendy's CEO Bob Wright hinted at the change.

"Equally as important to developing our strategy is having the right structure and talent to deliver upon it going forward. This means ensuring the organization is aligned and able to deliver on these strategic focus areas with meaningful impact. In some areas, that means enhancing existing capabilities. In others, it means building new capabilities that are essential to the work ahead," he said during the call. "We've already started looking at necessary restructuring and reorganization efforts, and I look forward to sharing more details with you as they develop. I'll be closely engaged in key decisions across the organization and ensure we are moving with focus, speed and accountability."

Wright recognized that historically, when the company restructured, that equated to job losses. However, he added that was not the case.

"When I think about the first thing that follows a solid strategic plan is the structure of the organization to be able to deliver on that strategic plan. And we are going to need additional capabilities. We're going to need beefed up capabilities in certain parts of the (business). And we're going to need additional talent in places that we may not have talent today. So those will be investments in the business, all of which though will have to stand the test of the returns that they provide for us and for our franchisees," he said.

With the move, Suerkin heads back into a position he's held before as he served as president of Quality Supply Chain from July 2021 to 2025, when he took on the role of Wendy's president, U.S.