Shanghai — Yum China Holdings, Inc. has appointed Joey Wat as president and chief operating officer of Yum China, reporting to CEO Micky Pant, and Johnson Huang as general manager of the company’s KFC business, reporting to Wat.
Wat previously served as chief executive officer of the company’s KFC business. In her new role, Wat will expand her responsibility such that in addition to overseeing the KFC brand, she will also oversee the company’s Pizza Hut Casual Dining and Pizza Hut Home Service brands.
Huang previously served as chief information and marketing support officer. In his new role, Huang will be the new leader for the KFC brand and report to Wat.
“Joey is an extraordinarily talented executive with a strong track record of accomplishing excellent business results at our KFC brand,” says Pant. “The Yum China board is confident that, with Joey’s strong leadership, the KFC brand will continue to expand in China and generate impactful same-store sales growth and that the Pizza Hut business, in both Casual Dining and Delivery segments, will benefit from her strategic oversight.”
Pant continues: “Johnson has held a variety of roles within Yum China over the past decade and has been instrumental in implementing our digital customer engagement strategy helping us to reach the new, younger generation of Chinese consumers. With his deep knowledge of information technology, experience with the Yum China business and consumer insight, he brings a unique perspective to strengthen the iconic KFC brand.”
Wat joined Yum! Restaurants China in September 2014 as president of KFC China and was promoted to CEO of KFC China in August 2015. She led the operating and marketing functions for the KFC division, had general management responsibility and was responsible for growing KFC within China. Prior to Yum, she worked at McKinsey, and later headed Watsons, UK including the Superdrug and Savers retail chains.
Huang joined Yum! Brands, Inc. in 2006 to lead the information technology department in China and was appointed chief information officer in 2013. He started overseeing shared marketing services in 2014 and became chief information and marketing support officer of Yum China in October 2016. He has been the architect of Yum China’s digital strategy and information technology roadmap. Prior to Yum, Huang held various business leadership and IT positions with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Group in the greater China region and Evergreen Group in the UK.
Yum China Holdings, Inc. is a licensee of Yum! Brands, Inc. in mainland China. It has exclusive rights in mainland China to KFC, China’s leading quick-service restaurant brand, Pizza Hut, the leading casual dining restaurant brand in China, and Taco Bell, which opened its first restaurant in China at the end of 2016. Yum China also owns the Little Sheep and East Dawning concepts outright. Yum China had more than 7,500 restaurants in over 1,100 cities at the end of 2016.
SOURCE: Yum China Holdings, Inc