David Hoffmann was the president of McDonald’s high-growth segment, which includes countries like China and Russian Federation.
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Hoffman notified McDonald’s of his intention to leave last week, and the company said in a filing Wednesday that his failure to execute a noncompetition agreement means he’ll forfeit all of his unvested cash and equity-incentive awards.
Noncompetes are standard in the corporate world and generally prohibit employees from jumping to a competitor too soon after leaving a company.
“Dunkin’ Donuts is a great consumer brand and has tremendous development opportunities”, Hoffmann said in a statement. “He also will be entitled to millions in company stock”. The doughnut chain is headquartered in Canton, Mass.
Hoffmann has served 22 years at McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), where he most recently served as President, High Growth Markets, which includes China, South Korea, Russia and several additional European markets. He has held general management positions in global markets since 2008, when he was named vice president of strategy and franchising in Japan.
Hoffmann is the third top executive departing the company recently, including USA president Mike Andres at the end of the year, and comes “at a time when McDonald’s is trying to fashion itself into a ‘modern, progressive burger company.’ The chain has struggled in recent years to win back Millennials and other customers who have flocked to other restaurants promising fresher, healthier food”, Jargon writes in a separate story the Wall Street Journal. He rose through the ranks and was ultimately head of McDonald’s Asian and Pacific markets before being named head of the chain’s high growth markets following a company reorganization a year ago.
Joseph Erlinger, who serves as McDonald’s CFO of High Growth Markets, will now lead the brand’s High Growth Markets sector, according to the filing.
Late last month, McDonald’s announced the departure of its USA president, a key architect of the company’s recent transformation and 30-year company veteran.
His departure after 22 years comes just weeks after the hamburger chain said Michael Andres would retire as president of McDonald’s US at the end of the year.
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Hoffmann began his career with McDonald’s as a crew member while in high school and later re-joined the company, after receiving an M.B.A., through its management training program.
