• by Thom Forbes , April 5, 2017

McDonald’s served up another change in its management ranks yesterday with three top executives — including U.S. CMO Deborah Wahl — leaving. Morgan Flatley, who has been CMO for global nutrition at PepsiCo and has long been associated with its Gatorade brand, will replace her, reporting to U.S. president Chris Kempczinski.

Also departing are Lance Richards, head of U.S. menu, who will be replaced by former Starbucks VP Linda VanGosen, and Julia Vander Ploeg, head of U.S. digital. Farhan Siddiqi, who has been vice president of global digital experience at McDonald’s, will step into her position.

“They are the latest management changes being made by CEO Steve Easterbrook, who has to strengthen the business in McDonald’s biggest market. The chain experienced a sales lift immediately following the launch of all-day breakfast last year, but the growth tapered off before falling in the fourth quarter as it lapped the daylong breakfast anniversary,” Julie Jargon points out in the Wall Street Journal.

“Wahl, who helped the chain bounce back from a prolonged sales slump with marketing for All Day Breakfast, also led the selection and creation of a new dedicated creative agency for McDonald's U.S. business, We Are Unlimited, last year. She could not be immediately reached for comment,” writes Jessica Wohl for Ad Age.

“Flatley, who had been chief marketing officer for PepsiCo-owned Gatorade and Propel, in late summer took on a new role of CMO for the global nutrition group and senior VP-global grains. She had been in various roles at PepsiCo over more than a decade and is most closely associated with her work on the Gatorade business. Before joining PepsiCo, Ms. Flatley handled work on Tide and Tylenol while at Saatchi & Saatchi,” Wohl continues.

She graduated from Dartmouth in 1996 and earned a Harvard Business School MBA in 2004, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Flatley was named 2016 Advertising Woman of the Year by the Chicago Advertising Federation, was previously recognized as one of Adweek's “30 Most Powerful Women in Sports,” and was listed on Brand Innovators’ “Top 100 Women in Brand Marketing,” Lewis Lazare reported for Chicago Business Journal last August. As CMO for Gatorade, she “was the the architect of the some of its most high-profile marketing campaigns, including this year's ‘Super Bowl Snapchat Dunk,’ which won five Cannes Lions awards and the sports drink's farewell tribute to Derek Jeter titled ‘Made in New York,’ a Cannes Gold Lion winner in 2014.”

All three executives will assume their positions at the end of the month, according to a news release. They were all “key figures in the chain's ongoing effort to reinvent itself,” according to Samantha Bomkamp’s lede in the Chicago Tribune.

“McDonald's has made strides in improving the quality of its food and moving ahead in digital, where it had lagged behind. But the company has failed to draw more customers in the door and is behind other competitors when it comes to introducing mobile order-and-pay system,” Bomkamp continues. “McDonald’s said recently that all U.S. stores will offer mobile ordering by the end of the year.”

And last week it made news by announcing that its Quarter Pounders would be served fresh in most U.S. restaurants by mid-2018.

According to the McDonald’s release, “Siddiqi previously served as vice president of global digital experience at McDonald's, overseeing digital functions including global product strategy, design, innovation and business development. He will also be responsible for delivering and managing digital solutions for the U.S. that increase customer engagement and drive sales through digital channels. Before joining McDonald's in 2016, he held several executive positions at Bank of America, Target, and General Electric,” writes Richard Klicki for the Daily Herald, which covers the Chicago suburbs including McDonald’s Oak Brook headquarters,

“VanGosen was previously a vice president at Starbucks, where she was responsible for the overall vision and strategic growth plans for Starbucks Evenings. VanGosen will oversee U.S. menu innovation and development, working closely with the McDonald's culinary team, Kempczinski said,” Klicki continues.

“Last month, the company tapped Bob Rupczynski, a Mondelez International Inc. executive, to be its new global vice president of media and customer relationship management. McDonald’s is trying to better target customers with a better loyalty program and roll out mobile ordering and payment in its biggest markets,” the WSJ’s Jargon reminds us.