Toronto — Josh Kobza, chief executive officer of Restaurant Brands International Inc. (RBI) has announced leadership team changes to support the company’s long term growth outlook of reaching a minimum of 40,000 restaurants, $60 billion in system-wide sales and $3.2 billion in adjusted operating income by 2028.
Sami Siddiqui has been appointed chief financial officer, succeeding Matt Dunnigan who is leaving the company. Jeff Klein has been appointed president of Popeyes U.S. and Canada, succeeding Siddiqui who has led the brand for nearly 4 years. Thiago Santelmo has been appointed president of international; he succeeds David Shear, who will remain with the company for a year as an advisor and assist in the transition. The leadership changes are effective immediately and a new president of EMEA and chief marketing officer for Popeyes will be named at a later date.
“Sami, Thiago and Jeff are proven, valuable leaders in the company and I’m looking forward to working with them as we deliver on our next phase of growth,” says Kobza. “Sami has deep finance and operational experience which makes him a great partner to our presidents as we deliver on our growth plans across the company. Thiago has spent his career building master franchisee relationships and working closely with them to develop new markets. This will serve him well as we accelerate net restaurant growth internationally in the coming years. Jeff has two decades of marketing and consumer insight experience with large, well-known brands, and will bring this guest-centered approach to making Popeyes ‘Easy to Love’ across the U.S. and Canada.”
Siddiqui has been at RBI for 11 years, including 8 years as brand president for Popeyes in Miami, all of RBI’s brands in the Asia Pacific region and Tim Hortons in Toronto.
Santelmo joined the company 11 years ago, focusing on growth in Latin America as general manager and then subsequently president for the region.
Klein joined the Popeyes leadership team 2 years ago as chief marketing officer and brings 25 years of experience in marketing and consumer insights. Klein previously was CMO for Little Caesars Pizza and spent 15 years at PepsiCo in senior marketing positions.
Restaurant Brands International Inc. is one of the world’s largest quick-service restaurant companies with over $40 billion in annual system-wide sales and over 30,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries and territories. RBI owns four prominent QSR restaurant brands: TIM HORTONS®, BURGER KING®, POPEYES® and FIREHOUSE SUBS®. For more information, visit www.rbi.com.
SOURCE: Restaurant Brands International Inc.