McDonald's Announces Divisional Management Changes

McDonald's Corp. promoted several divisional executives in the first management changes made by new CEO Jim Skinner, who succeeded the late Charlie Bell in November.The moves, announced late Wednesday, include elevating Ralph Alvarez from president of McDonald's USA to president of McDonald's North America, with responsibility for McDonald's USA and McDonald's Canada. Tim Fenton, president of the east division of McDonald's USA, will become the president of McDonald's Asia, Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.Jeff Stratton, McDonald's USA's chief operations officer, was given the post of executive vice president of the Restaurant Solutions Group, while Don Thompson will move to executive vice president and chief operations officer of McDonald's USA.McDonald's also said the president of McDonald's Asia, Middle East, and Africa, Marvin Whaley, announced his plans to retire at the end of this year after 32 years with the company.