Restaurant Brands International Inc., parent to Burger King, Tim Hortons and other quick-service concepts, has made several leadership changes in the wake of Matt Dunnigan, chief financial officer, leaving, the company said Thursday.
The Toronto-based quick-service portfolio company, which also owns Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Firehouse Subs, named Sami Siddiqui, president of Popeyes U.S. and Canada for four years, to succeed Dunnigan as CFO.
Jeff Klein, former Popeyes chief marketing officer, was named president of Popeyes U.S. and Canada to succeed Siddiqui, according to Josh Kobza, RBI CEO. Thiago Santelmo was appointed president of the international division to succeed David Shear, who will remain with the company for a year as an advisor and assist in the transition.
RBI said the leadership changes were effective immediately and a new president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and chief marketing officer for Popeyes would 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," said Kobza in a statement.
"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,” Kobza said. “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 eight years as brand president for Popeyes in Miami, all brands in the Asia Pacific region and Tim Hortons in Toronto. Siddiqui initially joined the company as head of finance and investor relations before becoming brand CFO for Tim Hortons and later Burger King.
Santelmo joined RBI 11 years ago, focusing on growth in Latin America as general manager and then subsequently president for the region. Santelmo has also been a leader of the company's growth in the EMEA region, focusing on new-country entries, developing new master franchisee partnerships and serving as president of the region for the last two years.
Klein joined the Popeyes leadership team two years ago as CMO. Klein previously was CMO for Little Caesars Pizza and spent 15 years at PepsiCo in senior marketing positions.
"I want to thank David and Matt for their years of service in building our company and growing our restaurant brands, Kobza said.
“David established a strong network of global franchisees and dedicated franchise support infrastructure which has contributed to the exciting growth of our international business over the past decade,” he said. “He has been a great partner and will be a valued strategic adviser to Thiago. Matt secured a strong capital structure and developed a balanced capital allocation framework that now supports the investments you have been seeing us make in our brands.”
RBI has more than 30,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries and territories.
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