Name: Kelly McCulloch
New title: Chief people officer, Inspire Brands
Previous title: Senior vice president of people, Walmart U.S.
McCulloch joins Inspire’s system after leading an “End-to-End People team” at Walmart that oversaw more than 1.3 million workers, a post she held for about 15 months, according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, she spent nearly five years as global chief people officer for Taco Bell and almost nine years in various human resources roles at Pizza Hut, meaning she brings considerable experience with large, franchised QSR systems to Inspire Brands.
According to a Monday press release, Inspire has about 650,000 workers in its global system, including employees of its franchisees. McCulloch will lead the company’s talent strategy, organizational effectiveness, total rewards and culture initiatives, according to the press release.
The diversity of Inspire’s brands — ranging from doughnut shops to sports bars — could make that task challenging. Inspire’s brands are pursuing a variety of strategies to capitalize on the company’s significant scale and marketing resources. But continual growth requires continual investment in staffing from franchisees and corporate. Dunkin' recently hit 10,000 locations in the U.S., and is continuing to grow. Buffalo Wild Wings, meanwhile, opened its 200th BWW Go fast casual location in August. Operational differences between the chain’s sports bars and its fast casual locations could place a strain on HR systems.
