KFC on Thursday said that Catherine Tan-Gillespie will take over as president of its U.S. business in April following the retirement of Tarun Lal.
Tan-Gillespie is currently the chief marketing officer and chief development officer for the Louisville, Kentucky-based chain. She will report to Scott Mezvinsky, KFC’S global CEO.
The move comes exactly one month after Mezvinsky, the former president of Taco Bell North America, was named KFC CEO. And it comes at a time when the chicken chain’s domestic business is floundering.
That includes a 5% decrease in same-store sales in the fourth quarter, the fourth straight period in which the key metric declined at least that much.
Tan-Gillespie has worked with KFC for the past decade, starting as CMO for the South Pacific region. She has also worked as global CMO and general manager of KFC Canada.
She only joined KFC U.S. last August, serving a dual role for the chain. The company said on Thursday that the marketing and development roles will be announced at a later date.
“Catherine is a well-respected, transformational leader with steep experience across operations, development and marketing as well as a track record for brand building and delivering high impact results,” Mezvinsky said in a statement.
Lal is retiring after more than 30 years with KFC. He was named president of the domestic division in 2022.
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