Seattle — MOD Super Fast Pizza Holdings, LLC, a fast-casual pizza pioneer, has promoted Becky Mulligan to the newly-created position of chief restaurant officer and Stephen Blum as its first chief development officer. The company also has made three executive-level hires, with a focus on enhancing MOD’s strength in franchising, culinary innovation and operational excellence as it continues to expand its store footprint of more than 520 locations system-wide.
Mulligan’s elevation to chief restaurant officer comes as she celebrates a year with the company during which she has led the field operations and operations excellence teams for 440+ owned-and-operated stores. In her expanded role, she will continue to lead all company stores and operations excellence, while taking on leadership for MOD’s franchise business.
Blum joins the company as MOD’s first chief development officer, tasked with leading all store development activities including real estate, store design, construction, facilities and portfolio management. He brings over two decades of store development experience to MOD, from restaurant brands Panera Bread, Panda Restaurant Group and Au Bon Pain. Most recently, he was senior vice president, real estate and facilities at Hertz. He will report to MOD’s CEO, Scott Svenson.
MOD has also welcomed three additional leaders and promoted a veteran operations leader, all effective immediately.
- Cynthia Richardson joins MOD as vice president, franchising. She will lead the team that supports all franchise, non-traditional and international operations. She comes to MOD after 25 years at 7-Eleven where she implemented consulting services to support franchisees in 17 countries, across 77,000+ stores. Her expertise across logistics, operations, technology, merchandising and partner engagement represents a strong addition to the team. Richardson will report to Mulligan.
- Scott Uehlein joined MOD as vice president, culinary excellence and innovation. In this role, he will oversee the MOD culinary team, including all aspects of menu development and innovation. He brings over three decades of industry experience, having most recently served as vice president of product innovation and development at Sonic. Previously, he spent 17 years at Canyon Ranch Resorts and ILX Resorts leading their food and beverage programs. He will report to Mark Shambura, chief marketing officer.
- Ben Coarde joined MOD as regional vice president, operations, overseeing the eastern region. Coarde previously spent over 14 years with Starbucks, most recently as a regional director responsible for 115 café and drive through locations.
- James Holguin, a 7-year MOD veteran, has been promoted to regional vice president, operations, responsible for the western half of the U.S.
“As MOD continues to scale, we remain focused on our people-first mission, while delivering an incredible and consistent customer experience, centered around our craveable food. We are incredibly grateful for Becky’s leadership and commitment to our purpose over the past year and we all celebrate her well-deserved promotion,” says Svenson, co-founder and CEO. “I am equally excited to welcome Stephen, Cindy, Scott and Ben and to congratulate James on a well-deserved promotion. They are all industry veterans who bring decades of experience to the leadership team and who will help us continue to support our people and product as we further our growth trajectory, on- and off-premise.”
MOD Pizza was founded in Seattle in 2008 by serial entrepreneurs Scott and Ally Svenson; today it has over 500 stores across 29 states and Canada. For more information, visit www.modpizza.com.
SOURCE: MOD Pizza