Walmart CIO Clay Johnson will join Yum! Brands, Inc. as the company’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer, starting on October 15. He will join the Yum! Brands Global Leadership Team and oversee the Company’s global technology strategy, partnering with the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell divisions to ensure the Company provides a best-in-class digital journey across mobile, online, delivery and restaurant operations.
Johnson will lead a coordinated, cross-brand effort to accelerate the company’s digital commerce strategy, use of data and advanced analytics and emerging technologies to enhance the customer and employee experience. As the chair of the Global Technology Leadership Team, Johnson will work closely with each global brand division technology chief who reports to his or her respective executive leader. In addition, Yum! Brands’ global technology risk management and IT shared services teams will report to Johnson.
Prior to this role, Johnson served as Executive Vice President and Enterprise Chief Information Officer for Walmart (see my interview with Johnson regarding his role at Walmart here), and brings more than 20 years of technology leadership across multiple major companies.
“We believe Clay Johnson...[is] the ideal executive to accelerate Yum! Brands’ growth through technology-centric strategies that advance the customer experience and ultimately deliver better economics and more value for our franchisees and shareholders,” said David Gibbs, Yum! Brands President and Chief Operating Officer and the Company’s incoming Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2020. “Clay’s insights into developing connected digital commerce capabilities and integrated enterprise solutions will be invaluable as we strengthen our business model with technology at the forefront. Johnson will report to Yum! Brands Chief Financial Officer Chris Turner.
“Clay has the deep knowledge and skills needed to oversee a cross-brand effort to fast-track our digital commerce capabilities, unlock value from data and advanced analytics and integrate cost-effective technology solutions to enhance restaurant operations and the customer experience.” said Turner. “This is an exciting time at Yum! because we have an incredible opportunity to leverage our massive scale and expand our digital and technology competencies in order to drive global same-store sales and net-new unit growth and improve franchise unit economics.”
At Walmart, Johnson was responsible for leading the company’s enterprise information technology strategy, services, operations and cyber security. Under his leadership, Johnson played a key role in leading Walmart’s digital transformation and leveraging technology to increase speed, value and provide a better customer experience. He built innovation hubs in Dallas and Austin, Texas, to focus on emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, big data and the internet of things. With an emphasis on the customer journey, he moved Walmart’s technology organization to a product model with an agile way of working. He is well recognized in the industry for his ability to drive new innovation and was recently named CIO of the Year and one of the Most Influential CIOs in the industry.
Prior to Walmart, Johnson served as Chief Information Officer at General Electric (GE) Power where he had end-to-end responsibility for information technology, cyber security, data and digital transformation. Johnson previously held leadership roles at The Boeing Company and Dell. He started his career at FedEx as a software engineer. Prior to his corporate career, Johnson served five years in the United States Coast Guard, where he held numerous leadership positions. He holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering from the University of Texas.
“Technology is an enabler to unlock value for the business and the end customer,” said Johnson. “I’m thrilled to join Yum! Brands and look forward to collaborating with the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell teams on leveraging omnichannel strategies, advanced analytics and emerging technologies to benefit customers, employees and franchisees.”
Peter High is President of Metis Strategy , a business and IT advisory firm. His latest book is Implementing World Class IT Strategy . He is also the author of World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs . Peter moderates the Technovation podcast series. He speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.
