McDonald’s Splits Its U.S. Marketing Leadership: What the Change Signals

2 days ago

5 min read

McDonald’s is restructuring its U.S. marketing leadership after Alyssa Buetikofer, the company’s U.S. chief marketing and customer experience officer, announced her departure. Rather than appointing an immediate replacement, the fast-food giant has divided the role between two seasoned executives while it searches for a permanent U.S. CMO.

The move comes at a sensitive moment for the brand. McDonald’s U.S. comparable sales declined 0.2% in the quarter ended September 30, its first decline after five quarters of growth, as value-conscious consumers pulled back on restaurant spending. Against that backdrop, the leadership change is more than a routine executive reshuffle: it is a test of how one of the world’s most recognizable brands balances creative consistency, commercial urgency, and customer experience.

A leadership transition with two owners

Buetikofer is leaving McDonald’s after 15 years with the company, having served as U.S. chief marketing and customer experience officer for less than two years. She will remain through December 18 to support a smooth transition and help the marketing team through year-end.

McDonald’s has chosen a two-pronged interim structure rather than placing one person in charge of the full remit:

Morgan Flatley, global chief marketing officer and head of new business ventures, will serve as interim U.S. chief creative officer while retaining her global role.
Charlie Newberger, a 17-year McDonald’s veteran who most recently led global beverage strategy, becomes interim senior vice president and U.S. chief marketing and commercial officer.
Danica Cunningham will serve as interim category leader for global beverages and desserts as Newberger shifts focus.

This structure separates creative stewardship from commercial execution. Flatley’s mandate protects brand voice, creative quality, and campaign coherence across markets; Newberger’s role focuses on turning marketing strategy into measurable commercial results in the U.S. business.

Why the split matters

Splitting a CMO role is often viewed as a temporary arrangement, but it can also reveal how a company defines the job. At McDonald’s, the U.S. marketing leader’s responsibilities span brand, content, digital, media, customer engagement, culture work, and menu strategy across nearly 14,000 U.S. restaurants.

That breadth makes the role difficult for one executive to own alone, particularly when the business is navigating a challenging consumer environment. By assigning creative leadership to Flatley and commercial leadership to Newberger, McDonald’s is effectively acknowledging that brand-building and demand generation require different kinds of attention.

Leadership area	Interim owner	Primary focus
Creative and brand expression	Morgan Flatley	Maintaining a distinctive, globally coherent creative direction while supporting the U.S. business.
U.S. marketing and commercial execution	Charlie Newberger	Translating marketing strategy into operational and commercial outcomes across the U.S. market.
Leadership continuity	Alyssa Buetikofer	Supporting the transition through December 18 before departing.

The arrangement reduces the risk of a leadership vacuum. Flatley brings continuity because she already leads McDonald’s global marketing and previously held a senior U.S. marketing role. Newberger brings institutional knowledge and operational depth, which may be especially valuable as the company seeks sharper execution in a market where traffic and sales momentum have weakened.

The business context

The timing is important. McDonald’s U.S. comparable sales fell 0.2% during the July–September quarter, ending a five-quarter growth streak. The company has attributed pressure to consumers becoming more careful with discretionary spending amid a high cost of living.

In response, McDonald’s has been testing an eight-week mix-and-match and fixed-price bundle program across 1,900 U.S. restaurants. The initiative is designed to address declining traffic by making the brand’s value proposition more tangible for customers.

That creates a demanding brief for the interim leadership team. Marketing must do more than produce high-profile campaigns; it must help customers understand why a McDonald’s visit still represents clear value. In practice, that means coordinating menu messaging, pricing communication, digital offers, loyalty activity, media investment, and in-store experience.

What it means for the brand

McDonald’s has one of the strongest brand systems in global marketing: instantly recognizable assets, broad cultural reach, and a long history of campaign-led storytelling. The immediate challenge is preserving that consistency while the company searches for a permanent U.S. marketing leader.

Flatley’s interim creative role should help prevent fragmentation. Because she is already responsible for global marketing, she can ensure that U.S. campaigns remain aligned with the broader brand platform rather than becoming isolated, market-specific executions.

Newberger’s commercial remit, meanwhile, suggests that McDonald’s wants closer alignment between marketing and business performance. His background in beverage strategy is relevant because beverages are often a high-frequency, high-margin category that can support value bundles, personalization, and incremental purchases.

The risk is that a divided mandate can create competing priorities. Creative teams may prioritize long-term brand distinctiveness, while commercial leaders may prioritize short-term traffic, coupon redemption, and same-store sales. McDonald’s will need clear decision rights and shared performance metrics to prevent that tension from slowing execution.

A broader industry lesson

The change reflects a wider shift in how large consumer brands organize marketing. The traditional CMO role is increasingly being broken into specialized functions: brand and creative, performance marketing, retail media, customer experience, data, commerce, and commercial strategy.

For McDonald’s, the split may be temporary, but it signals that the company sees U.S. marketing as both a brand-building function and a revenue-growth engine. That dual expectation is now standard across major consumer businesses, especially as marketing leaders are asked to demonstrate impact on traffic, sales, customer lifetime value, and market share.

The lesson for marketers is straightforward: creative excellence and commercial accountability are not alternatives. Brands need compelling ideas that build cultural relevance, but they also need disciplined execution that turns attention into visits, orders, and repeat purchases.

What to watch next

The most important question is who McDonald’s selects as its permanent U.S. CMO. The appointment will reveal whether the company wants a leader with a stronger creative pedigree, a deeper commercial background, or experience in digital, loyalty, and customer experience.

Until then, the interim structure will be judged by execution. If McDonald’s can maintain creative momentum while improving value perception and traffic, the split will look like a pragmatic response to a complex market. If sales continue to weaken, pressure will grow for a more centralized leadership model and a clearer turnaround narrative.

For now, McDonald’s has chosen continuity over disruption: one leader protecting the brand’s creative system, another driving U.S. commercial delivery, and a departing executive helping ensure a stable handover.