Yum Brands Appoints Brian Cornell as Non-Executive Chairman

November 20th, 2018

Yum Brands, Inc. [NYSE:YUM) announced on Monday that its board of directors has appointed Brian C. Cornell to replace Robert D. Walter, 72, as its non-executive chairman. Cornell is the chairman and chief executive officer of Target Corporation [NYSE:TGT].

“We sincerely thank Bob Walter for his strong leadership, invaluable insights and many significant contributions to Yum! Brands, particularly during this exciting and transformative time for our company as we’re becoming more focused, more franchised and more efficient,” said Greg Creed, chief executive officer of Yum Brands, which has over 45,000 affiliated restaurants in its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands.

Prior to joining Target in August 2014, Cornell served as CEO of PepsiCo Americas Foods where he oversaw the company’s global food business. Cornell also served as president and CEO of Sam’s Club. He serves as chairman of the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

“As customer preferences and purchase behaviors evolve, Target and Yum! Brands are already elevating and transforming our respective customer experiences with digital, retail and global consumer insights,” said Yum’s new non-executive chairman. “I look forward to contributing to the next wave of growth for Yum! Brands.”

Don Sniegowski

Don launched the news site Blue MauMau in the Fall of 2005 after franchise buyers and owners told him that they felt it was almost impossible to shovel through the propaganda and sales spin from business news, disclosures, and even franchise experts in order to make informed and wise investments.

Why is this news site called Blue MauMau? It's metaphorical. Blue MauMau is a South Pacific fish that gathers in schools for protection from sharks and other predators. In an industry that has many impediments in knowing truth at the franchise level, Don created a platform that franchisees from all brands and ilks could use to network together to inform both themselves and reporters about their businesses and industry. This site works when franchise owners participate in what they know. In the past that function has been left largely to the franchisor. I'll still reach out to franchisors, but I do so wanting straightforward answers for our readers—franchisees. This news site aims to continually improve at being "the franchise owner's most trusted news source."

Don is the award-winning publisher of this news site about franchised establishments, Blue MauMau. He can be emailed at editor@bluemaumau.org or tweeted @dsnig.