McDonald’s USA System and Global Technology employees,

As we continue to strengthen our capabilities across the System, we are committed to developing leaders who bring both market insights and global perspectives to the table. We strongly believe that great leadership is built through diverse experiences—across markets, functions, and geographies.

In that spirit, we are pleased to announce a strategic leadership transition that reflects our dedication to talent development and fostering leaders with both a breadth and depth of System experience, especially as we make progress on our transformation journey.

Effective August 1, technology leaders Whitney McGinnis and Valerie Ashbaugh will be stepping into each other’s current roles to broaden their leadership impact and scope of System experience. Whitney McGinnis will become Senior Vice President, Commercial Products & Platforms and Valerie Ashbaugh will become Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President, McDonald’s USA.

This move recognizes two exceptional leaders with complementary strengths and a shared passion for technology transformation, innovation, operational excellence and people development.

Whitney has been a cornerstone of McDonald’s technology evolution since joining the company in 2004. As U.S. CIO, she has led the U.S. Technology organization in delivering a steady drumbeat of integrated, scalable solutions across nearly 14,000 restaurants—spanning point of sale, kiosks, digital menu boards, mobile, back office, HR, and training applications. Her close collaboration with Owner/Operators has been instrumental in enhancing both customer and crew experiences, and I am so appreciative of all she has done to champion our modernization journey within the U.S. System.

Whitney has led numerous critical initiatives focused on innovation, strategy, and large-scale application development. This shift in role marks her return to product development and engineering, as she previously led technology innovation and engineering focused on bringing to market the next generation of restaurant technology. In her new role, Whitney will bring her deep operational expertise, customer-centric mindset and over 20 years of McDonald’s experience to our global platforms, helping us scale innovation and deliver value across markets.

As we wish Whitney well on her new opportunity leading global Commercial Products & Platforms, I’m excited to welcome Valerie to the U.S. System. Valerie is a proven leader and change agent with a track record of transforming global organizations from strategy through execution. With deep expertise in Tech and digital transformation across the entire value chain, she has led high-performing teams in industries ranging from retail and athletic fashion to aerospace and high-tech.

In her recent role at McDonald’s, Valerie led the transformation of our consumer and restaurant platforms, standardizing our platforms and launching new capabilities such as loyalty, Ready on Arrival, new ordering channels and our most stable POS ever, Sesame. She has led engineering of key innovations, integrating and bringing to life AI solutions that are in rapid prototyping and testing. She also led a significant Tech Transformation effort by standing up our product op model and building a modern engineering organization. This involved cross functional work to expand our engineering teams in Mexico and India to deliver the capabilities of the future. Valerie is known for her authentic leadership style, ability to motivate diverse global teams, and her consistent delivery of operational excellence.

In her new role leading U.S. Technology, Valerie will bring her global perspective, product expertise, and passion for team development to further strengthen our U.S. technology strategy and execution. Learn more about Valerie and what you can expect from her as she joins the U.S. System at the video below.

Please join us in congratulating Whitney and Valerie on their new roles. We are confident that this transition will continue to elevate our technology leadership and drive meaningful impact across the McDonald’s System.

Thank you for your continued support as we embrace this exciting new chapter.

Joe Erlinger, President, McDonald’s USA

Brian Rice, Executive Vice President, Global Chief Information Officer