Don Thompson Named CEO of McDonald's - Black Enterprise: Donald Thompson has been named CEO of McDonald’s Corp., taking the helm of the world’s largest fast food restaurant chain. He will assume his new role on July 1, succeeding retiring chief executive Jim Skinner. The move places Thompson, one of BLACK ENTERPRISE’s 100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America, among a few African Americans to run a major publicly-traded corporation – an exclusive club that includes Kenneth I. Chenault of American Express and Ursula Burns of Xerox Corp.
“I’m humbled to take the baton as CEO of McDonald’s,” Thompson said in a statement. “Our management team is strong and will remain focused on the Plan To Win and our three global priorities—optimizing the menu, modernizing the customer experience and broadening our accessibility to even more customers.”
