Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today announced the promotion of Rick Carucci, 54, to President of the Corporation, reporting to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, David C. Novak. Carucci has served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer since 2005. Reporting to Carucci will be the leaders of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut in the U.S., Yum! Restaurants International (YRI) and Corporate Finance. Continuing to report to Novak are the CEOs of China, the Company’s largest, highest growth and most profitable division, and India, a newly formed division designed to capitalize on future growth, as well as the YUM corporate functional leaders. The Company also announced the promotion of Patrick Grismer, 50, to Chief Financial Officer, reporting to Carucci. Grismer has previously served as the Company’s Chief Planning and Control Officer.
“Rick Carucci is an extraordinarily talented executive. He is a strategic thought leader, has great commercial savvy and at the same time, has clearly established himself as a champion of our powerful recognition culture,” said Mr. Novak. “Along with Sam Su, Chairman and CEO of YUM China, Rick is an instrumental partner to me running YUM. Sam Su and I have committed to the YUM Board of Directors that we will continue to be actively involved in the leadership of our Company in the coming years. With Rick Carucci’s promotion, we have created a management triumvirate to best leverage scale and capitalize on our aggressive growth opportunities in emerging markets including China, India, Russia, Africa, France and Germany. These opportunities simply did not exist when we started our Company fifteen years ago,” Novak added. Carucci is a 16 year veteran of the restaurant industry, including senior general management, financial and development roles for Yum! Restaurants International. Before becoming the Company’s CFO in 2005, Carucci served as CFO and head of Development of its International Division. Over the course of his restaurant career, he has had general management responsibility for the Company’s businesses in Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Korea, the Middle East, and North Africa. He is widely credited for the Company’s successful financial and IT strategies, and for increasing its presence internationally, especially in emerging markets.
“At the same time, I’m pleased to announce the promotion of Pat Grismer to become our Chief Financial Officer. Pat has worked closely over the years with Rick Carucci and me and has held a number of senior finance roles that have fully prepared him to become the Corporation’s Chief Financial Officer. We expect a seamless transition,” Novak said. Grismer is a ten-year veteran of the Company, with most immediate responsibility for corporate strategy, planning and control. He previously served in a series of domestic and international finance positions, including Chief Financial Officer of YRI, Corporate Vice President of Strategy and Investor Relations, Chief Financial Officer of Pizza Hut (UK), Vice President of Planning at YRI, and Senior Director of Finance at Taco Bell. Prior to joining the Company, he spent ten years at The Walt Disney Company in a series of finance executive positions, including Vice President of Strategic Planning and New Business Development for The Disneyland Resort. He also served as a senior consultant at Price Waterhouse.
Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants, with more than 37,000 restaurants operating in 125 countries. KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are the category leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food, respectively. In 2011, the Company added 1,561 new restaurants, primarily in emerging markets, and generated 14% EPS growth, the 10th consecutive year it achieved at least 13% EPS growth.
