CHICAGO – Manu Steijaert has been promoted to the newly created role of executive vice president and global chief customer officer for McDonald's Corp, effective Aug. 1. Mr. Steijaert will report to Chris Kempczinski, president and chief executive officer.

In this role, Mr. Steijaert will lead McDonald's new customer experience team, which combines several existing teams responsible for end-to-end customer experience — data analytics, digital customer engagement, global marketing, global restaurant development and restaurant solutions.

Mr. Steijaert brings to his new role more than 20 years of experience in the McDonald’s system. The son of a former McDonald’s franchisee, his first restaurant experience dates back to 1987 when he started working as a crewmember at his Belgian parents’ restaurants. Mr. Steijaert studied art and launched his own design studio prior to starting his career with McDonald’s Corp. in 2001 as a field service consultant. After working in several positions within the McDonald’s system in Belgium and the Netherlands, he became vice president of operations in France, where he successfully integrated service and production platform innovations and helped to develop the "Experience of the Future" program, which eventually was implemented at McDonald’s restaurants worldwide. By 2015, he was named managing director of the Netherlands business before rising to vice president of international operated markets in 2019, supporting country leadership teams of 12 regions.

“The formation of the customer experience team strengthens McDonald’s ability to lead the industry in anticipating and delivering on customer needs at every part of the brand journey, which increasingly extends beyond the walls of the physical restaurant through digital, delivery and drive-thru,” Mr. Kempczinski said. “As customer needs continue to evolve, we will create a frictionless brand experience across all our service channels using the insights generated from our increasingly important digital platforms. Manu’s deep understanding of the needs of our customers and his rich perspectives from multiple markets will be invaluable in leading this new team.”