INDIANAPOLIS Jeffrey Blade, interim president of the Steak n Shake Co. for the past four years, resigned Friday to pursue other interests, the company said. He also was executive vice president and chief administrative officer.
The resignation came about four months after Texas-based investor and shareholder Sardar Biglari won a seat on the board of directors in a proxy fight. Shareholders elected him chairman on June 19. He replaced Wayne Kelley, whom the board had named interim chairman and chief executive in March. At that time, Kelley was replacing Alan Gilman, a 16-year Steak n Shake veteran who had been interim CEO for seven months.
Biglari, 30, publicly commented July 9 at the annual meeting of Western Sizzlin Corp., which has a 5.4-percent stake in Steak n Shake, that he had “age issues” with some of the family-dining company’s board members.
Some analysts have said they expected Biglari to hire a new chief executive and to work to improve sales and sell underperforming restaurants to franchisees. The 491-unit company posted a net loss of $2.8 million in its second quarter ended April 9.
