Wendy’s tempts former Heinz IRO

Margaret Nollen, former senior vice president of IR at Heinz, has been named as the new head of investor relations and strategy at fast-food giant Wendy’s.

The Texas State University graduate joins the world’s third-largest quick-serve burger firm with 25 years’ experience in finance and administration, including almost 20 years in investor relations.

Nollen, who takes on the new role as senior vice president of investor relations and strategy, will also serve on the company’s senior leadership team, reporting to both Wendy’s president and CEO Emil Brolick and Todd Penegor, the firm’s senior vice president and CFO. David Poplar, vice president of IR, will report to Nollen.

‘Meg is uniquely suited for her important new role at Wendy’s,’ says Brolick in a press statement. ‘Her extensive experience in investor relations, strategic planning and development will be a tremendous asset to our organization as we execute our ‘Recipe to Win’ and work to accelerate the transformation of the Wendy’s brand.’

Prior to joining Wendy’s, which operates around 6,500 franchise and company restaurants in the US, US territories and 28 countries worldwide, Nollen served as senior vice president of strategy and IR at Heinz. In this capacity, she was responsible for ‘aligning global strategies and investor communications for the $12 bn global sales company,’ continues the press release, adding that while Nollen was at Heinz, ‘the company was recognized in 2012 as one of Institutional Investor’s Most Honored Companies, winning the award for best investor relations in the consumer staples food group.’

Before her stint at Heinz, Nollen held a number of roles in both IR and corporate development at firms including Georgia-Pacific and Dynegy.