CHICAGO – McDonald’s Corp. has promoted two following the departure of Melissa Kersey, chief people officer of McDonald’s USA.

Melanie Steinbach has been promoted to senior vice president and chief people officer of McDonald’s USA. She previously was vice president and global talent officer.

“Melanie is an accomplished business executive who cares deeply about people,” said Heidi Capozzi, executive vice president and global chief people officer. “Her work fostering an environment for diverse, global talent to thrive has been critical in supporting McDonald’s strategy evolution and growth. For the past three years, Melanie’s focus has been on redesigning the company’s approach to talent management and deploying those changes worldwide. This builds on her deep experience before McDonald’s as a chief human resources officer and from 15 years in global search firms where she was responsible for solving business problems through talent in the consumer, retail and marketing sectors.”

With Ms. Steinbach’s new appointment, Shammara Howell has been promoted to vice president and global chief talent officer. In this role, she will be responsible for talent attraction, organizational design, talent (global functions, US and international) and talent strategy.

“Shammara’s McDonald’s experience as senior director, Center HR for the global functions – alongside her deep outside perspective – will be a strong asset to the people team as we advance our global talent objectives,” Ms. Capozzi said.

Ms. Kersey is leaving McDonald’s USA to pursue new opportunities, the company said. She joined McDonald’s in April from The Boeing Co., where she was senior vice president of human resources.

“Melissa has been a critical driver of our people function in the US, and her commitment to people has shown up in so many ways,” Ms. Capozzi said. “Her work to grow our restaurant staffing through world-class recruitment technology expanded our labor pool and helped McDonald’s become more competitive in the US. She also launched the US Diversity Strategy, which focused on improving our talent pipeline and creating a more diverse workforce. In addition, she has been an incredible resource in sharing her deep knowledge of the US business as I’ve continued to on-board.”

Ms. Kersey, Ms. Steinbach and Ms. Howell will be working together to ensure a seamless transition, Ms. Capozzi said. The leadership changes are effective July 1.