McDonald’s Corporation ·MCD

Restaurant Experience centralized under one global executive

Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure · Fortune #165 · Hybrid structure · 150K employees · Chicago, Illinois

View as of:

CEO span

↑ wider than peers (avg 8)

2.3

Avg span

tight

Max depth

flat for 150K emp

3 yr

Avg tenure

↓ 1.0yr from FY2024

67%

Internal hires

↑ above industry avg

Consolidated financials FY2025 · period end 2025-12-31 · 10-K

Revenue

$26.9B

Operating income

$12.4B

Net income

$8.6B

Total assets

$59.5B

Shares out

710M

Sourced from McDonald’s Corporation DEF 14A · filed 2026-04-07 ↗ View on SEC

Interactive org chart

McDonald’s Corporation organizational chart

Explore the executive structure, reporting layers, and scenario-ready operating model from public filings.

Open editable chart

Restaurant Experience is centralized under one global executive, a distinctive move for a franchised QSR. This page maps McDonald’s four-level hybrid structure, executive team, segments, recent leadership changes, and peer comparisons.

What to model

Use the chart to test org decisions, not just view reporting lines

Start with the public baseline, then use the scenario views and source-backed changes to ask what happens when leadership, span, or team ownership shifts.

Latest signal James D. Farley, Jr. joined as Director

Elected to Board effective 2026-02-04.

Source · See change log

Scenario views in the chart

Add Chief AI Officer Create a Chief AI Officer to accelerate AI-driven operations and marketing.
Move Digital under Marketing Shift digital platforms to Marketing to unify customer growth ownership.

Atlas work this supports

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The people

Who's running this

10 executives identified as Named Executive Officers in the most recent SEC proxy. Bar length scales with tenure.

internal

Christopher Kempczinski

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Executive

5 yr

33 reports

internal

Gillian McDonald

Executive Vice President, Global Chief Restaurant Experience Officer

Operations

2 yr

4 reports

internal

Ian Borden

Executive Vice President and Global Chief Financial Officer

Finance

3 yr

3 reports

internal

Joseph Erlinger

President, McDonald's USA

U.S. Markets

4 yr

3 reports

Manuel JM Steijaert

President, International Operated Markets

International

1 yr

3 reports

internal

Brian Rice

Executive Vice President, Global Chief Information Officer

Technology

2 yr

3 reports

Morgan Flatley

Executive Vice President, Global Chief Marketing Officer

Marketing

3 yr

2 reports

Heidi Capozzi

Executive Vice President, Global Chief People Officer

4 yr

2 reports

internal

Desiree Ralls-Morrison

Executive Vice President, Global Chief Legal Officer

Legal

3 yr

2 reports

Jonathan Banner

Senior Vice President, Global Communications

Corporate Affairs

3 yr

2 reports

The pay

Executive compensation

From the most recent DEF 14A Summary Compensation Table. 1 named executive officers disclosed. Bar length scales with total compensation.

Christopher Kempczinski $20.6M

Base salary: $1.55M
Stock awards: $8.00M
Option awards: $8.00M
Non-equity incentive: $2.37M
Other: $657K
Fiscal year: FY2025
Source: SEC DEF 14A ↗

The skin in the game

Beneficial ownership

Insider stock holdings and the company's ownership requirements for executives and directors. Disclosed in the most recent DEF 14A.

Stock ownership requirements

6×CEO base salary

3×NEO base salary

5×Director cash retainer

Stock ownership guidelines disclosed in proxy.

The businesses

How McDonald’s Corporation divides the work

4 divisions report into the group CEO. Tile size scales with estimated headcount.

McDonald's USA

30K employees

President, McDonald's USA (Joseph Erlinger)

Operates and franchises U.S. restaurants, the company’s largest profit pool.

International Operated Markets

40K employees

President, International Operated Markets (Manuel JM Steijaert)

Company-operated international markets with direct operational control.

Restaurant Experience

20K employees

Global Chief Restaurant Experience Officer (Gillian McDonald)

Global operations standards, supply chain, franchising and development.

Technology

8K employees

Global CIO (Brian Rice)

Digital platforms, enterprise IT and cybersecurity.

The thesis

Why this org is unusual

Restaurant Experience is unusually centralized for a global franchisor: operations, supply chain, franchising and development roll up to a single global executive.

This concentrates execution authority and reduces regional variance. The CEO maintains a broad span with leaders for U.S., international operated markets, finance, technology, marketing and people. The structure balances centralized operating standards with market presidents retaining P&L accountability.

Centralized Restaurant Experience
Flat four-level structure

The comparison

How McDonald’s Corporation stacks up

Compared with peers like Yum! Brands and Starbucks, McDonald’s places more end-to-end restaurant functions under one global leader rather than splitting operations and development. The CEO span is similar to peers, but the depth remains relatively flat at four levels. Unlike some peers, McDonald’s has not added a …

C-suite size

McDonald’s Corporation

Yum! Brands

Starbucks

Restaurant Brands International

Domino's Pizza

Reporting depth

McDonald’s Corporation

4 levels

Yum! Brands

5 levels

Starbucks

5 levels

Restaurant Brands International

4 levels

Domino's Pizza

4 levels

Avg C-suite tenure

McDonald’s Corporation

3 yr

Yum! Brands

4 yr

Starbucks

3 yr

Restaurant Brands International

4 yr

Domino's Pizza

5 yr

Has COO / Has CAIO

McDonald’s Corporation — no COO — no CAIO

Yum! Brands ✓ COO — no CAIO

Starbucks ✓ COO — no CAIO

Restaurant Brands International — no COO — no CAIO

Domino's Pizza — no COO — no CAIO

Current signals

What changed recently

McDonald’s consolidated restaurant functions under a single global executive and added a new independent director in 2026.

Feb 4, 2026 new
James D. Farley, Jr. Director
Elected to Board effective 2026-02-04.
Source
Date not confirmed reorg
Restaurant Experience Team Centralized operations, supply chain and franchising
Late 2023 reorganization created a unified Restaurant Experience function to drive end-to-end execution.
Source

Leadership Timeline

Year-over-year executive structure based on SEC proxy and annual filings.

FY2025

DEF 14A filed 2026-04-07

CEO: Christopher Kempczinski
CEO span: 5
C-suite: 5
Avg tenure: 3 yr

Restaurant Experience centralized.

Named executive officers (5)

Christopher Kempczinski - CEO since 2019
Ian Borden - CFO since 2022
Gillian McDonald - Chief Restaurant Experience Officer since 2023
Joseph Erlinger - President, McDonald's USA since 2021
Manuel JM Steijaert - President, IOM since 2025

FY2024

DEF 14A filed 2025-04-07

CEO: Christopher Kempczinski
CEO span: 5
C-suite: 5
Avg tenure: 4 yr

Pre full Restaurant Experience consolidation.

Named executive officers (5)

Christopher Kempczinski - CEO since 2019
Ian Borden - CFO since 2022
Joseph Erlinger - President, McDonald's USA since 2021
Gillian McDonald - President, IOM since 2023
Desiree Ralls-Morrison - Chief Legal Officer since 2022

FY2023

DEF 14A filed 2024-04-08

CEO: Christopher Kempczinski
CEO span: 5
C-suite: 5
Avg tenure: 4 yr

Regional presidents emphasized.

Named executive officers (5)

Christopher Kempczinski - CEO since 2019
Ian Borden - CFO since 2022
Joseph Erlinger - President, McDonald's USA since 2021
Gillian McDonald - President, IOM since 2023
Jonathan Banner - Communications since 2023

Year-over-year changes

FY2024 → FY2025

Operations consolidated under a new global Restaurant Experience role.

CEO span: 5 → 5
C-suite size: 5 → 5
Avg tenure: 4 → 3 yr

reorg Gillian McDonald - Chief Restaurant Experience Officer (was President, IOM) (DEF 14A 2026-04-07)

The board

Board of directors

2 directors. 1 of 2 independent (50%). Source: most recent DEF 14A.

Christopher Kempczinski

Chair Inside

Chairman and CEO, McDonald's

Director since 2019

James D. Farley, Jr.

Independent

CEO, Ford Motor Company

Director since 2026

The board, organized

Board committees

1 standing committees. Audit and Compensation must be 100% independent under SEC rules; the rest vary.

Audit & Finance Committee

100% independent

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the CEO of McDonald’s?

Christopher Kempczinski has served as Chairman and CEO since 2019.

What type of organizational structure does McDonald’s use?

McDonald’s uses a hybrid structure combining global functional leadership with market presidents.

How many direct reports does McDonald’s CEO have?

The CEO has nine direct reports across markets and global functions.

How has McDonald’s leadership changed recently?

The company centralized Restaurant Experience under one executive and added a new independent director in 2026.

Who reports directly to McDonald’s CEO?

Market presidents and global chiefs for finance, restaurant experience, technology, marketing, people, legal and corporate affairs.

Sources

8-K Filing, Feb 2026
Company disclosures, 2024
SEC EDGAR: McDonald’s Corporation DEF 14A Proxy Statement
SEC EDGAR: McDonald’s Corporation 10-K Annual Report

Reference

Cite this page

If you reference this page in research, analysis, or news writing, use one of the formats below. Citation includes the SEC filing source where applicable.

APA 7th

Creately. (2026). McDonald’s Corporation organizational structure. Creately. Retrieved , from https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/mcdonalds/

MLA 9th

"McDonald’s Corporation Organizational Structure." Creately, April 1, 2026, https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/mcdonalds/. Accessed .

Chicago 17

Creately. "McDonald’s Corporation Organizational Structure." Last modified April 1, 2026. https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/mcdonalds/.

Original SEC source View on SEC ↗

McDonald’s Corporation. DEF 14A. Filed 2026-04-07. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/63908/000119312526145548/mcd-20260407.htm

Permanent URL: https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/mcdonalds/ · last updated 2026-04-01

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