The following message was sent to the McDonald's System from Joe Erlinger.

McDonald’s USA,

It is with immense gratitude I share with you that Jami Guthrie, Vice President of Strategic Insights and Prioritization, has made the decision to retire this spring. Jami has been an incredible partner to me and a valued member of my leadership team, and I am thrilled that he is taking this much-deserved next step for him and his family.

While I have not known Jami for very long, I quickly came to appreciate how he embraces a complex problem with a customer-first mindset. In 2023, as we were embarking on our Accelerating the Organization effort to make our business more efficient, we discussed the need to create one centralized team to manage strategy, data and insights for the entire U.S. business. At the time, Jami shared with me that retirement was on his mind, but he couldn’t quite pull himself away from the opportunity to build this new function.

He had a clear vision for the Strategic Insights & Prioritization team and how we could better deploy our resources against our biggest opportunities. I knew then, and it is even more evident today, that Jami was the right leader to take on that challenge. Through his leadership, we have unlocked the ability to make decisions faster, more efficiently, and confidently to lay the foundation for our long-term success.

I deeply appreciate Jami’s leadership over the years and the impact he has made on both the business and the people he has worked with. His ability to quickly make sense of data and use it to garner clear concise insights continues to impress me, and I know he has been an invaluable thought partner to many of us throughout the System. He has created a legacy at McDonald’s, and I wish him and his family the very best as they begin this new chapter in their lives.

As we look to the future, I am thrilled to share that Mike Shapiro, who has recently completed the Accelerated Operations Program (AOP), will take on the role of Vice President of Strategic Insights and Prioritization, effective March 10.

Mike’s journey at McDonald’s over the last six years makes him a natural fit for this role. Having started his McDonald’s career supporting the Field Business Insights and Value & Deal Strategy teams, he has been at the forefront of advancing our affordability plans while keeping a pulse on the changing needs of our customers. Mike’s extensive experience overseeing planning – including leading phase planning for the U.S. business and driving the long-term strategic vision of our Accelerating the Arches plan – has helped McDonald’s stay on the side of our customers and pivot to address the complexities we’ve faced over recent years. Mike is known for his collaborative approach across all three legs of the stool and his unique ability to connect real-time data back to our strategy to tell a story.

His most recent exposure in AOP, where he gained hands-on restaurant training, has brought him even closer to our business priorities and the field. As many of you know, just before joining AOP, Mike served as Senior Director and Chief of Staff to National Field President Myra Doria. In this role, he rallied the System around strategic priorities, fostering stronger collaboration and consistency across the System, and bringing the “One Team McDonald’s USA” vision to life. Mike has been a strategic thought partner to many of us across the business, helping us navigate some of the most complex challenges our business has faced and understanding how we can unlock future growth. Because of this and the strong internal talent development programs in place, I know he is the right leader to drive performance moving forward.

Learn more about Mike and what you can expect from him in his new role at the video below.

As Mike transitions from his current role, Jami will stay on board to ensure a successful transition through April 11.

Please join me in thanking Jami for his many contributions, wishing him well in retirement, and welcoming Mike to the U.S. Senior Leadership Team and his new role.

Joe Erlinger

President, McDonald’s USA