News

Yum Brands puts PepsiCo exec in CFO role

June 27, 2019

Chris Turner (Photo provided)

Yum! Brands has named a former PepsiCo executive to be its new CFO, effective Aug. 8. A news release said that 44-year-old Chris Turner will assume global responsibility for the company's finance, corporate strategy, supply chain and information technology. 

At PepsiCo, Turner most recently served as senior vice president and GM in charge of the company's retail and e-commerce businesses with Walmart in the U.S. and more than 25. Yum Brands previously announced that it was conducting a search for the top financial post, currently held by Yum Brand's President, COO and CFO David Gibbs.

"We are confident that Chris' commercial experience with iconic consumer-oriented companies, particularly across the quick-service restaurant and retail sectors, will prove instrumental as we drive global growth, leveraging our unprecedented scale and maximizing value for our customers, franchisees, employees and shareholders," Yum CEO Greg Creed said in the release. 

Prior to leading PepsiCo's Walmart business, Turner served as senior vice president of transformation for the company's North American Frito-Lay business, where he led the optimization of Frito-Lay's direct-store delivery capability as part of a broader transformation of the end-to-end value chain. Before PepsiCo, Turner spent more than 13 years at strategic management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, as a partner in the firm's Dallas office, where he led the Service Operations practice in North America, the Restaurant Service Line and the Retail Operations team. 

"Chris' deep experience in the consumer sector, strong financial acumen and track record of growth leadership make him perfect for the CFO role at Yum! Brands," David Gibbs said in the release. "He has extensive experience delivering on aggressive performance targets and helping industry leaders navigate complex operating environments, M&A, disruptive innovation and category transformation, which will be invaluable to our company," said Gibbs. "Chris will be a strategic partner as we leverage our scale to drive global same-store sales and net-new unit growth and improve franchise unit economics."

Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Yum Brands has more than 48,000 restaurants in 145-plus countries and territories, primarily under the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands.