Yum! Brands Global Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer and Chairman and CEO of the Yum! Foundation Jerilan Greene has decided to step down in July after more than 11 years with the Company and start a new chapter outside Yum!. To assist with the search for her successor and ensure a smooth transition, Greene will stay on as an ESG advisor through the end of the year.
“We are incredibly grateful for Jerilan’s service to Yum! Brands and we will undoubtedly build on the thought leadership, momentum and impact she has helped create inside and beyond our four walls,” said Tracy Skeans, Yum! Brands Chief Operating Officer and Chief People Officer. “She has been a fierce developer of talent, a mentor to many and has created lasting impact for our brands, ESG strategies and culture.”
In 2011, Greene joined Yum! as Vice President, Public Affairs with a management consulting and PR agency career defined by leading and communicating large-scale transformation, culture and brand reputation. Throughout her time at Yum!, she played a pivotal leadership role at inflection points in corporate strategy, culture and social responsibility especially in how Yum! is investing in stakeholder priorities – from climate action to diversity, equity and inclusion to reducing packaging and waste.
From 2015 to 2019, Greene led critical issues management and communications for the successful spinoff of China and collaborated with Yum!’s leadership to develop the transformation strategy and narrative that evolved into the company’s Recipe for Growth and Good. She was promoted to Chief Communications Officer in 2016 and began overseeing Yum!’s strategies in sustainability and government affairs in 2018 as the Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer and Chairman and CEO of the Yum! Foundation. As a champion of integrating the interests of Yum!’s brands, society and the planet, Greene partnered to sharpen and accelerate Yum!’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments, transparency and action on the Company’s Recipe for Good.
In 2020, as Yum! navigated the pandemic, Greene catalyzed and led Yum!’s COVID-19 global crisis response and integrated communications ahead of the full market reaction, which helped facilitate business continuity and a rapid, global pivot to contactless restaurant delivery and carryout options. As the unprecedented public outcry against inequality intensified that same year, working with Yum!’s global leadership team, she architected the global Unlocking Opportunity initiative. The purpose-led effort is starting to reshape the Company’s brand and social impact strategies from the inside out with a $100 million investment over five years in equity, inclusion and belonging, education and entrepreneurship.
Under Greene’s leadership, Yum! has earned industry recognition as one of the world’s most responsible companies including being listed on the Dow Jones North America Sustainability Index for leading sustainability practices, included among the top 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine and ranked on Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Responsible Companies.
