Jim Skinner

Special to Veterans Advantage, January 2008

In the face of daunting challenges, the Navy’s own Jim Skinner took the helm of McDonald’s in 2004 and set it on a path of growth and change unprecedented in the company’s history.

Skinner was remarkably well prepared for the CEO role. Having worked his way up the organization over a 36-year career, he had held virtually every major position in the company, bringing to each the discipline and teamwork he learned through his Navy service. After serving nearly ten years in the United States Navy, with tours in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War, a Navy buddy encouraged Skinner to begin his career with McDonald’s in 1971 as a restaurant manager trainee in Carpentersville, Illinois. He advanced quickly and held numerous positions in the U.S. Company, including Director of Field Operations, Market Manager, Regional Vice President and U.S. Senior Vice President and Zone Manager.

“Here’s a guy who’s done everything in the company and who understands everything from the crew person’s point of view all the way through the organization. He’s one of them,” said Andy McKenna, chairman of the board and a McDonald’s director for 17 years.

“We knew when we elected him that we would have a solid McDonald’s guy who had the respect of his peers and who understood clearly the mission,” added McKenna. “I don’t recall any period during my time at McDonald’s where people were as united and worked so well together as now.”

Turnaround at the Golden Arches
A true company man who claims a quarter pounder (without cheese) to be a near-daily staple of his diet, Jim Skinner huddled with a handful of other McDonald’s Corp. executives over four years ago to tackle a big problem: The company, by most measures, was doing terribly. Mr. Skinner had just been named vice chairman and was part of a new management team charged with helping reverse the company’s sliding profit. Three days later, the group emerged with a new strategy, named Plan to Win, which was focused on improving existing restaurants instead of racing to build new ones.

It did not come easy, as it faced issues inside and outside the company. Mr. Skinner moved up to the chief-executive spot in 2004 after CEO Jim Cantalupo died and his successor as CEO, Charlie Bell, relinquished his post to fight what proved a losing battle against cancer. McDonald’s also endured a deluge of negative publicity thanks to movies like "Super Size Me" and books like "Fast Food Nation" that criticized the quality of its food and blame it for the nation’s obesity epidemic.

But despite these obstacles, the “Plan to Win” strategy began to take shape for the company and it became more prosperous. In 2004, the company was named "marketer of the Year" by the influential industry publication "Advertising Age," primarily for its "I’m lovin’ It" ad campaign which seemed to inject new life into the company.

"We’re fortunate that both Jim Cantalupo and Charlie Bell had the foresight to see how the "Plan to Win" could help revitalize our business," said Skinner upon receiving the prestigious award. "It’s thanks, in large part, to their strong support of marketing and their intense focus on recapturing our leadership role in that arena that has helped make ’I’m lovin’it’ so successful."

And fast-forward to earlier this month, Marketwatch.com named Skinner its "CEO of the Year," noting that McDonald ’s stock has climbed 45 percent since Mr. Skinner took over two years ago, and same-store sales and profits have risen steadily. It’s gotten hip, too. For example, cafe lattes and McMochas tested well this year in about 1,300 restaurants and could give Starbucks and other premier coffee houses across America a run for their money.

Today, 50 million customers walk through McDonald’s doors each day, four million more per day than 3 1/2 years ago.

Career: Steps to the Top
Skinner has held numerous leadership positions in his tenure with the corporation. Before becoming Vice Chairman, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the McDonald’s Restaurant Group with operating accountability for the company’s more than 30,000 McDonald’s restaurants in 118 countries at the time.

Prior to that, Skinner served as President and Chief Operating Officer of McDonald’s - Europe, Asia, Pacific and Middle East, with management responsibilities for the nearly 12,500 restaurants operating in those geographic sectors. From 1997 to 2001, Skinner was President of McDonald’s Europe. Before that, he was Executive Vice President and International Relationship Partner for Central Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India from 1995 to 1997.

In addition, he has twice served as an Advisory Director to McDonald’s Corporation’s Board of Directors. Currently, he serves on the Board of McDonald’s Corporation, Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Walgreen Company and ITW (Illinois Tool Works).