Neil Golden Named Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's USA
Golden Replaces Retiring CMO William 'Bill' Lamar April 1, 2008
PRNewswire-FirstCall
OAK BROOK, Ill.
Nov 29, 2007
McDonald's announced today the promotion of Neil Golden to Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's USA, effective April 1, 2008. Golden, an 18-year McDonald's veteran with extensive local and national marketing experience, is well-positioned to lead McDonald's U.S. Marketing.
"Neil Golden has a proven track record of people and marketing leadership for brand McDonald's," said Don Thompson, president of McDonald's USA. "Knowing the essence of our business, coupled with a keen insight for what resonates and motivates people makes Neil uniquely qualified to lead national marketing for the U.S. business."
Golden's McDonald's career began in 1989 as a regional marketing supervisor in McDonald's Indianapolis region. Since then he has held a variety of field and Home Office positions, including his most recent position as Vice President of Marketing, McDonald's USA, where he was responsible for new initiatives, emerging consumer trends, strategic planning, plan development and ethnic marketing.
In his new role, Golden will oversee all aspects of national marketing for McDonald's USA, including collaboration and alignment with McDonald's Operator National Advertising Fund (OPNAD), for nearly 14,000 McDonald's restaurants in the United States.
"For any current or aspiring marketer, the CMO job at McDonald's is the equivalent of the elusive brass ring," said Golden. "It's humbling to think about the leadership marketing campaigns produced for this great brand during the last 50 years. However, because we have so many passionate, creative and tremendously talented marketing professionals working on our business, I am absolutely confident we'll continue to surprise and delight our customers in ways that are fun and uniquely McDonald's."
Golden is a Chicago native and a graduate of Northwestern University. He served as a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House at Loyola. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Advisory Board for the Suzuki-Orff School of Music.
McDonald's USA, LLC, is the leading foodservice provider in the United States serving a variety of wholesome foods made from quality ingredients to millions of customers every day. More than 80 percent of McDonald's 13,700 U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated by local franchisees. For more information about McDonald's visit http://www.mcdonalds.com/.
First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: katie.hayes@us.mcd.com
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
SOURCE: McDonald's USA, LLC
CONTACT: William Whitman Jr., +1-630-623-6745, or Richard Ellis,
+1-630-623-3187, both of McDonald's USA
Web site: http://www.mcdonalds.com/