Tracy Skeans Promoted to Chief Operating Officer at Yum! Brands

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Yum! Brands, Inc. has promoted Tracy Skeans to Chief Operating Officer. She will retain her current responsibilities as Chief People Officer and continue reporting to Chief Executive Officer David Gibbs.

Skeans has been with the company for 20 years and has served as Chief Transformation and People Officer since 2016. This promotion formalizes the expanded role she is already playing to drive cross-brand collaboration on operational execution, people capability and customer-experience imperatives aimed at fuelling same-store sales and net-new unit growth.

“Tracy and I share a people-first vision and passion for elevating the customer and employee experience, which makes her the perfect choice for Chief Operating Officer in our next phase of growth,” says Gibbs. “Tracy has been an invaluable strategic partner to me and our global-leadership team as we have navigated through some of the most pivotal milestones in our history, including our transformation to a pure-play franchisor in 2019 and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Her breadth of experience and strong track record of results through people and executional excellence give the Yum! Brands board of directors and me great confidence that she will help us deliver strong performance across our brands and global franchise system in this fast-changing environment.”

Gibbs will continue leading the company’s overarching strategies and maintain his focus on driving global growth and sales and profitability at all Yum! franchise businesses worldwide. In addition to Skeans, Yum! Brands’ functional and brand-division leaders will continue reporting to Gibbs and brand restaurant operations will continue to report to each brand respectively.

“Yum!’s future growth and social impact rely on our ability to collaborate and execute strategies and ideas at scale across our iconic brands and global franchisee base,” says Skeans. “I’m excited to take on this expanded role partnering with David and our global leadership team, as we continue to invest in our people and customer experience, alongside critical areas that will drive future growth and improve franchise unit economics — including technology, innovation and restaurant development.”