LOS ANGELES In an ongoing effort to build its management infrastructure, Pinkberry named Michael Dixon chief financial officer and announced several other executive appointments.
Dixon is the former chief financial officer for The Cheesecake Factory Inc., where he worked for eight years until his departure in July.
In addition, Pinkberry named Karen Kelley, formerly vice president of operations for Jamba Juice, as vice president of store operations. Prior to her 10 years at Jamba Juice, Kelley held senior operations positions with Boston Market and Taco Bell.
Mark Friedman was named vice president of business development and general counsel. Previously, Friedman was senior vice president and general counsel of American Golf Corp.
Pinkberry also appointed Todd Putman to the post of marketing vice president. He previously was a marketing executive at the Westfield Group, which owns and operates shopping centers.
Eric Snyder, previously an independent management consultant, was named vice president of people.
“We are excited to have such a talented group of people on board who can help grow the concept that we conceived just three short years ago,” said Shelly Hwang, co-founder and chief product officer.
The additions follow the appointment of Ron Graves as chief executive in August. Graves had served in that role on an interim basis since October 2007, when Pinkberry received a $27.5 million investment by Seattle-based venture capital firm Maveron LLC. Graves was a general partner in Maveron, which was co-founded by Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz.
Pinkberry operates or franchises 67 units in Los Angeles, San Diego and New York.