McDonald’s corporation has announced that David Fairhurst, currently chief people officer of McDonald’s Europe, has been promoted to Senior Vice President of international human resources and strategy. This change will come into effect on 1st May 2015.
In his new role Fairhurst will be responsible for international human resources which includes Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA), and Latin America, as well as the global human resources functions of ‘Systems, Strategy and Design’. He will continue to be based in London and will report to Rich Floersch, executive vice president and chief human resources officer of McDonald’s corporation.
Floersch said:
“With his strategic vision, passion for the business and his international experience, David will be a valuable addition to our corporate team. His keen insights on development will benefit us greatly as we continue to strengthen our talent pool to drive our business for the future.”
Fairhurst joined McDonald’s UK in 2005 as vice president of people and was promoted to chief people officer of Northern Europe in 2007 with responsibility for HR, training, education, customer services and environment. In 2011, he was appointed to the newly created position of Chief People Officer in Europe.
Doug Goare, President, McDonald’s Europe, said:
“David is a highly innovative leader who has made a significant impact on our business. He has led the creation and implementation of a ground breaking People strategy that has played a critical role in driving our results and building trust in our brand across Europe.”
Prior to joining McDonald’s, Fairhurst held senior roles at H J Heinz, SmithKline Beecham and Tesco. Outside McDonald’s, he acts as a government-appointed Commissioner for the UK commission for employment and skills. He is also a visiting professor at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School and for four consecutive years (2008-2011) was voted the UK’s ‘Most Influential HR Practitioner’ by readers of HR Magazine. In 2012, he was awarded the magazine’s first ever lifetime achievement award for an HR practitioner.
Charles Staples is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
