McDonald's Long-Time Chairman About To Retire
After serving the position of chairman for 12 years, the inspirational figure, Andrew McKenna has decided to step down the company.
On Wednesday, McDonald’s Corporation announced the retirement of its long-time chairman, Andrew McKenna. Mr. McKenna will vacate his position at the next annual general meeting of the company, on May 26 and the new chairman will be elected on the same day. Moreover, the retiring chairman will become “chairman emeritus.”
Mr. McKenna had been an independent director of the company for a period of twenty five years and for the past 12 years he had been rendering his services as a chairman. McDonald’s CEO, Steven Easterbrook, extolled about his legendary services in a tweet in the following words: “Leadership, integrity, and commitment to excellence exemplify Andy McKenna.” Easterbrook forwarded note of thanks for the chairman for his
services to MCD.
Additionally, Miles Whites, chairperson of the board’s governance committee expressed, in an official statement given on Wednesday, that the chairman’s exemplary leadership was pivotal in pulling the company through storms of challenging and bad times.
Andrew McKenna is a strong and influential figure in the business elite. Back in 2003, McKenna, at the age of seventy-three, decided to leave the fast food giant. Earlier, McDonald’s had a policy which restricted the directors age to 73 after which they were made to step down from their position however he didn’t leave the company because of the CEO transition the company had. Subsequently, the age limit was also waived off.
McDonald’s had been the front runner in the fast food industry for decades until it faced some serious competition from new arrivals of burger joints like Shake Shack Inc. and Five Guys. Also, it lost some of its limelight to Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. –one of its former divisions. Additionally, last year, for the first time ever,
the Golden Arches had to close down more restaurants in the U.S than it opened. This accounted for a net loss of around 100 restaurants.
However the company has finally been able to pull itself back from the whirlpool of slowing performance. This year, in January, the Oak Brooks, Illinois firm posted the best U.S. quarterly sales in 16 quarters. The turnaround happened after the company, under the strong leadership of Mr. Easterbrook, launched its all-day
breakfast menu. The company was able to attract a lot of customers which in turn resulted in fair performance of the fast food chain after around 4 years.
McDonald’s U.S. sales at the restaurants which were opened for more than sprung up 5.7% in the last and the fourth quarter. The growth was substantially higher than what the analysts had initially expected –2.7%.
Now, the company’s expansion plan includes significant growth in China where the company has announced to open 1,300 additional restaurants and boost its current number of restaurants of 2,200. In over 100 countries, the fast food giant has been operating on 36,000 locations.
All in all, Mr. McKenna laudatory services will definitely be missed by the fast food giant. Moreover, just like he’s likely to be McDonald’s chairman emeritus, he is currently enjoying the same prestige in Schwarz Supply Source a company whose objective is to deliver promotional and packaging materials. Moreover who is a director at an insurance and risk management services firm, called Ryan Specialty Group.
The shares of the company have risen around 32% in 12 months. Till the Wednesday market closure, the company’s shares went up 0.1% and close at $127.52.
