Former global chief technology officer succeeds Kevin Vasconi in role and reports to CEO-president Kirk Tanner
The Wendy's Co. has named Matt Spessard as chief information officer, the company announced Monday.
The Dublin, Ohio-based burger brand said Spessard as CIO will report to Kirk Tanner, the company’s CEO and president and serve on Wendy's senior leadership Team. Spessard will succeed Kevin Vasconi, who had served as chief information officer since October 2020.
Spessard has served as Wendy’s senior vice president and global chief technology officer since August 2022.
"Driving the growth of the digital business and harnessing technology in restaurants to improve the customer and crew experience are important pieces of our plan to accelerate sales and profitable growth across the global system," said Tanner in a statement."Matt's extensive experience in overseeing global technology initiatives at Wendy's positions him as the ideal leader to build growth on our already successful foundation."
As CIO, Spessard will assume responsibility for all aspects of Wendy's global technology efforts, including restaurant technology, data management and analytics, enterprise technology, software architecture and engineering, and information security.
Spessard said: “The brand's future growth is strongly linked with technology, and I'm excited about the possibilities it brings. As we move forward, technology has the potential to unlock the next chapter of growth and I'm deeply committed to Wendy's success in this dynamic landscape."
Spessard joined Wendy's in May 2020 as vice president for restaurant technology and assumed the expanded role of vice president for digital and restaurant technology in September 2020.
Prior to that, he spent six years with Inspire Brands, including the Sonic Drive In brand.
Spessard previously held various operations and technology leadership roles at Yum! Brands, Church's Chicken and Braum's Ice Cream & Dairy Stores.
Wendy's, founded in 1969, has more than 7,000 restaurants worldwide.
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