Leadership

Krispy Kreme shakes up its management team

The doughnut chain’s chief financial officer and chief growth officer have both left the company. Raphael Duvivier was promoted to CFO while Alison Holder was named chief brand and product officer.
Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme is making more corporate changes amid sales and profit challenges. | Photo: Shutterstock.

Krispy Kreme on Thursday promoted a pair of new executives to take roles left vacant by the departures of the company’s chief financial officer and chief brand officer.

The Charlotte-based chain promoted its international president, Raphael Duvivier, to CFO after the former finance chief Jeremiah Ashukian left Krispy Kreme to take a position with a private company.

Chief Growth Officer David Skena also left Krispy Kreme “to pursue another opportunity,” the company said. He was replaced by Chief Product Officer Alison Holder, who will become the chief brand and product officer effective July 11. 

The moves add additional upheaval for a company whose performance and stock price have struggled this year. Krispy Kreme’s sales and profitability both fell in the first quarter of the year. 

The chain added four new members to its board of directors and a company that had long talked of the need for expanding access to its doughnuts shifted into an expansion strategy focused on more “profitable” growth.

As if to accentuate that change, Krispy Kreme mutually decided with McDonald’s to pull out of what was at one point considered a landmark partnership between the two chains. 

Krispy Kreme’s stock is down 67% so far this year and by 80% since its 2021 IPO.

Duvivier had worked with Krispy Kreme since 2019 and most recently had been its president of international. Duvivier had held multiple positions before that, including chief development officer and chief financial and strategy officer, international. He came to the company from Opus Investments.

Holder, meanwhile, has worked with Krispy Kreme for 25 years an at one point was senior director of consumer insights. 

“I have the utmost confidence in Raphael, Alison and the rest of our strong team to help drive Krispy Kreme forward as we pursue U.S. expansion through high-volume retail points of distribution and capital-light international franchise growth,” CEO Josh Charlesworth said in a statement. 

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