Executive Q&A: Dunkin' Brands' Jon Luther Passes the CEO Torch
The chief executive shares insight into the decision, its timing and what he'll focus on at Dunkin' Brands.
By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 12/11/2008 9:34:00 AM
Dunkin' Brands announced on Dec. 10 that Nigel Travis will take the reins as chief executive officer. Travis, previously president and CEO of Papa John's, and before that Blockbuster Inc., will assume the role on Jan. 6, 2009. Current Chairman and CEO Jon Luther will stay on as executive chairman of the board. Luther talked briefly with Chain Leader about the decision, its timing and what he'll focus on at Dunkin' Brands.
Why now? Why is it a good time for this move?
The back story is, I turned 65 in October. In April, I approached the board and said we need to start thinking seriously about a succession story. We'd been doing a lot of talent review and building the teams, but I indicated to them that by the time we end up going into '09 with our new five-year plan, which we tweaked based on new environment, it would be the perfect time to bring in a new CEO to take that plan at the very beginning and carry it through with the great brand leaders that we have.
We looked at our brand teams, and they were in tact and solid. And disruption is not something that franchisees like in their brand teams. And [Dunkin' Donuts Chief Brand Officer] Will Kussell and [Baskin-Robbins Chief Brand Officer] Srinivas Kumar have good brand teams. And we also wanted to select a CEO that had been proven and tested and results-oriented, that was already in the role and would hit the ground running rather than grow into that role.
With those two things in mind, we went inside and outside the industry to find the best candidate available. And to our great surprise and delight, Nigel Travis became interested and accepted the job and will be here January 6.
You got two of the best brand leaders in the industry in Will and Srinivas. I would hope my role as executive chairman is a strong leader. And now we bring in Nigel Travis with a track record as CEO at Papa John's, and the great results there, and his 10 years at Blockbuster in franchisee relationships and building businesses--wow, we just added a lot of firepower to the team.
It's time to hand of the reins of the day-to-day to a strong CEO while I step up into a role where I'm more strategic, more involved in public policy, looking out for the future of our franchisees through legislation, regulation, all the things that affect a small businessperson. I can be a good board liaison for Nigel, as well as still be the external voice of the enterprise as we go forward.
Is there something that Nigel brings that complements you and the rest of the leadership team?
Nigel has great operating skills, technology skills, good results skills in managing the P&L and performance. My skills kind of lean more toward the brand building, motivating the system, working with franchisees and listening. I've been told I have decent skills on the government-relations side and walking through policy issues with key people on the Hill.
So I can advance those skills on a full-time basis and Nigel can apply his full-time skills. Although there are a lot of things we can share and work together on. We're both very strong in values and culture and philosophy, but we do have different skills in execution and brand building.
Some of the strategy and policy things you mention sound bigger than Dunkin' Brands. Is that the case?
My role as an industry leader should be first and foremost to our franchisees and our employees and our owners. There is a level of industry perspective that I hope to provide on behalf of the brands and the small businessperson out there. I care deeply about the small businessperson who may or may not get hurt by some of these policy changes that could occur in the future.
What's been the reaction of your franchisees?
I think generally, I've built enough rapport and respect in the franchise community that they wish me well. They're glad I'm here to provide that guidance and coaching and influence. And if they need me, I'm still here.
I think they're pleased that we're intelligent about the way we handled succession and that we brought in a proven industry veteran in Nigel Travis, and the continuity of the brand leadership teams staying in tact and continuing to apply their strategic direction against the targets we've all agreed to. I think they're pleased with the professional nature of how we've handled this, how the brands have grown up.
How was the reaction of your corporate staff?
I informed our key team a while ago that this was going to occur so they were prepared. I talked to them all individually as to why we were making this move now and why we wanted to go outside and why we wanted a seasoned CEO. And our team nodded their heads and said. "We understand. Jon, you brought us all this way, we trust you. And we know that you're going to make the right decision."
We felt it was so important to have brand stability, that to go outside was the right choice. And I think our franchisees as well as our employees were more than happy about continuity and stabilizing the organization.
I think they respect the decision, and they're going to give Nigel a fair chance to succeed.
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