• June 4, 2008

He replaces Gregg Dedrick, who has made a personal decision to leave by year's end after 20 years with the company so that he may pursue several outside business ventures and academic coursework.

In his new role, Eaton will be responsible for KFC's $5.3 billion domestic business, which is predominantly franchised across 5,300 restaurants. For the last five months, Eaton has served as Yum! Brands Chief Operating and Development Officer, responsible for sharing global Operations Best Practices.

Eaton is an international restaurant industry veteran and has been with the company for 12 years. Prior to becoming Yum's COO, he served for seven years as SVP/Managing Director of Yum! Restaurants International South Pacific and Africa region (SOPAC). Earlier in his career, Eaton was Regional Operations Director of KFC SOPAC, General Manager of KFC New Zealand and Finance Director of KFC SOPAC.

Emil Brolick, president of U.S. Brand-building, will now become Chief Operating Officer--an executive staff role, overseeing Yum's Restaurant Excellence, Development, Express business and Quality Assurance .

The leaders of each of these functions, along with Ben Butler, president of Long John Silver's and A&W All-American Food, will report to Brolick. He will continue to oversee the company's global Marketing Excellence and Marketing College. Brolick serves on the Yum! corporate executive staff.

--Nina M. Lentini