CKE Restaurants, Inc. today announced the hiring of Jim Sullivan as Senior Vice President of Domestic Franchise Development and announced that Ned Lyerly has been named Executive Vice President of International.
The growing importance of franchise development at CKE combined with the fact that fiscal 2012 was the first year the company’s international development exceeded domestic development led the company to split the leadership responsibilities for these positions to dedicate focus to both its domestic and international growth opportunities. In fact, in fiscal 2012 there were 113 franchise openings, 72 of which were in international markets.
Jim Sullivan will be responsible for franchise sales and the growth of the domestic franchise system, while Ned Lyerly will run the company’s international division.
Jim joins the company from Friendly’s Ice Cream LLC, where he recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer. At Friendly’s, Jim was responsible for the company’s development, real estate and franchising activities.
“Jim’s fifteen plus years of experience in franchise development combined with his knowledge of the Northeastern US market will be tremendous assets to the company,” said Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE. “At present, the Northeastern region of the United States (eight states in total) is an area in which we have no restaurants and, as such, represents a significant growth opportunity for the Company.”
Ned Lyerly, who previously served CKE in the capacity of EVP of Global Franchise Development, will dedicate his efforts to expanding the company’s international presence, which has grown to more than 13% of the company’s system wide unit count. With a presence in 25 international markets, international is particularly important as the company accelerates franchise growth in Mexico, The Middle East, Russia, China, Asia, Canada, Central and South America.
“We have positioned the company to support our franchise systems,” said Puzder. “With our emphasis on franchise growth, the time was right to split the responsibility for our domestic and international franchise networks among two very capable executives.”
CKE Restaurants, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Carpinteria, Calif. As of the end of fiscal 2012, the Company, through its subsidiaries, had a total of 3,243 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 42 states and in 25 countries, including 1,313 Carl’s Jr. restaurants and 1,912 Hardee’s restaurants. For more information about CKE Restaurants, please visit www.ckr.com or its brand sites at www.carlsjr.com and www.hardees.com.
