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An extraordinary blend of communal expertise and sophisticated
statistical skills, Donald Thompson fondly known as Don Thompson is an
American Engineer and a business executive, who was the President and
CEO of world famous fast foods joint named McDonalds. He remained the
CEO and President of McDonalds from 2012 up until 2015. He took up his
retirement on March 1st 2015, wherein he was replaced by Steve
Easterbrook, the senior executive vice president and the chief brand
officer of the fast food biggie, as such.
A person whose achievements have never gone to his head, Donald
Thompson is always known to have carried himself with an approachable
and humble manner and this he demonstrates with smiles and hearty
handshakes. A person who has the ability to listen, analyze and blend
in, he makes people feel ease with him. With exceptional leadership
qualities, he takes enough time for those people who work with and under
him.
Early days and Education
Don Thompson was born on the 30th of March 1963 and he is currently
52 years old. Thompson was born in Chicago and grew up near the Cabrini
green housing project. He was quite a bright student at school. He
completed his sixth grade while he was barely 10 years old. Because of
the gang violence that prevailed in the vicinity, back then, i.e. in the
late ‘60’s and ‘70’s, he was moved by his grand mom, to stay with his
other relatives, who were living in Indianapolis. He attended the North
Central High School.
He then went on to finish his graduation program in the field of
Electrical Engineering. The degree was earned from the Purdue University
in the year 1984. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Excelsior
College.
Career Spark
As Don was an electrical engineer by profession, he initially kick
started his career, working for a fighter jet maker which is now a part
of Northrop Grumman. He was an engineer specialist of the aforesaid
Defence Corporation group.
He joined McDonalds as a robotics engineer, to design circuits and
feedback loops for the fast food chain of stores run and managed by
McDonalds, in the year 1990.
His journey with McDonalds
Initially when Mr Thompson joined McDonalds in the year 1990, he was a
robotics engineer. He designed the entire circuit control room for the
McDonalds, he was currently working with. He designed robotic equipment
for food transport and made control circuits for cooking. These unique
innovations helped Don, climb up the corporate ladder, sooner than he
had ever imagined. He immediately became the project manager for the
Quality Control Department during the year 1992. He also served as the
Staff Director for the Development team at the Denver Region of
McDonalds.
During the late 90’s, he became the Regional Vice President of the
San Diego region, the western end of California. He was primarily
responsible for the day to day administration of more than 350 stores.
He also oversaw chain of stores covering Southern California. Then Mr.
Thompson subsequently went on, to become the President of Midwest
operations, where he oversaw more than 2,200 restaurants. This was the
entire zone of Midwestern United States.
There is more to go, with the performing CEO of McDonalds, Mr
Thompson. He then started looking after 4000 restaurants of McDonalds,
covering the Western United States. This was how he had progressed in
his career streak, in a step by step manner. Thus he contemplated the
role of the President of Western United States zone of McDonald’s
without any compromises on quality or customer satisfaction.
He then went on, to become the Executive Vice President and
innovation orchestration leader of McDonald’s solution group. He was
responsible for establishing, integrating and co-ordinating the
initiatives and efforts of the Solutions group at McDonalds. Under his
leadership, he aimed at identifying and capitalizing new growth
opportunities, including overseeing McDonald’s Corp. The activities that
formed a core of his career profile included concept development, R
& D and menu management functionalities. This was during the dawn of
2001 up until 2005.
Mr Thompson got a very big break on the career front, when he was
appointed as the Chief Operating Officer, COO, of the entire chain of
McDonalds covering the USA (United States of America). He became the COO
of McDonald’s LLC division covering entire USA along with three
signature brands connected with the food joint. This was during January
2005. He then became the head of Marketing for McDonald’s Canada branch,
as well.
He then became the President of McDonalds, USA, LLC, a subsidiary of
McDonald's Corp. and McDonalds Restaurants Of Canada Limited from August
23, 2006 to January 11, 2010. Mr Don Thompson finally coveted the top
most position of McDonalds by being appointed as the Chief Executive
Officer and President of McDonalds Corp. He got the promotion as on July
2012 and served up until March 2015. We have thus seen each and every
iota of growth, with regard to Mr Thompson’s career with McDonalds, the
world’s favourite food joint. Mr Thompson has thus covered e very
spectrum of development and marketing with his 2.5 decade stint with
Donald’s.
You get yummy burgers, sausages, cool desserts and garlic bread, as a
predominant portion of the menu. You can chill out with friends and
family, by taking them out to McDonalds. You get ice creams and milk
shakes as well.
Other affiliations Mr Thompson is connected with
a) He used to be the member of McDonald’s Charities wing, as well.
b) Mr Thompson is one of the trustees of North Western Memorial hospital.
c) He represents the Advisory group of trustees at the Purdue
University, too. This was the institute in which he had pursued his
graduation degree in Electrical Engineering.
d) He also represents Civic Committee, Commercial Club, Economic
club, World Business Chicago and Arthur M Brazier Foundation Committee.
We have thus seen the career profile, rewards and recognition, early
days, journey with McDonalds and other affiliations, of Mr Don Thompson
in detail. The young and aspiring 52 year old CEO has a long way to go.
Family
Donald Thompson is a proud family man and he is happily married to
his college sweetheart Liz and the couple has two children and they
reside in the Chicago area.
Awards and Accolades |
|
He was the Corporate Executive of the Year as nominated by the Black Enterprise, in the year 2007. |
|
He
received the Corporate Executive award, once again, during the year
2008. The institute which presented the award was named the Trumpet
foundation. |
|
Executive
Leadership council conferred yet another award on Don. It was a
corporate award and he earned the trophy during the year 2010. |
|
Illinois
Holocaust Museum conferred the humanitarian award on the 52 year old
CEO of McDonalds. The recipient was none other than Don himself. This
was during 2012. |
Professional Affiliations |
|
Northern Trust Corporation |
|
Exelon Corporation |
|
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. |
|
Exelon Generation Company, LLC |
|
Purdue University |
|
McDonald’s Restaurants Of Canada Limited |
|
McDonald's USA, LLC |
|
Excelsior College |
|
World Business Chicago |
Quotes |
|
I
can still cook fries,' he replied. "I can still cook burgers. I offer
quite a bit. Most of the time, they'll tell me, 'Get out of the kitchen
Don! Go back out there and do what you do!. |
|
We're
a big target. If you attack McDonald's, you'll get press. And so, you
know, just about any and everyone will attack McDonald's for
something.. |
|
If
the bar is a little bit higher in some regards, it's always been a
little bit higher. It's not a new thing for me to be an
African-American. It's new to be an African-American CEO. |
|
At
McDonald's back then, it didn't matter what degree you had; if you
didn't understand mustard, ketchup, onion and pickles, you didn't
understand business -- you didn't understand McDonald's |
|
You know what? I never looked back. It's interesting that you ask it now, Lee. I never looked back at the time. |
|
We
still will try them here and there. We've got a couple other things
that'll come out. No one has done more in that arena than McDonald's. |
|
If
you're the greatest maintenance person at McDonald's for 30 years, but
you are that person that makes everybody happy, you enjoy what you do,
how you do it, everyone loves you and you love them, you're a blessed
person, you know? |
|
McDonald’s
was still mighty, and could overcome the global movement to healthier
food and ingredient knowledge by running some new marketing or adding
items to the dollar menu |
|
We're
maintaining and even growing our market share, which is one of the
things we strive to do, particularly in tighter times for consumers and
discretionary spending." |