Don Thompson, president of the U.S. division of McDonald’s, has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of McDonald’s Corporation, which puts him in charge of 32,000 McDonald’s restaurants in 117 countries. Thompson’s former role has been filled by Jan Fields, promoted from executive vice president and COO for McDonald’s USA. Jim Johannesen, formerly U.S. Division president—Central Division, moves up to take Field’s position.
Thompson has been with McDonald’s since 1990, when he started as an engineer in the Restaurant Systems Group. Thompson oversaw the company’s recent specialty coffee rollout, and his promotion puts him second in command to McDonald’s CEO James Skinner. Speculation exists that Skinner is grooming Thompson to take over the post of CEO eventually.
