McDonald’s on Wednesday named Jon Banner its new global chief impact officer, a position that oversees much of the burger giant’s government relations and communications functions.
Banner comes to the Chicago-based chain from PepsiCo, where he was the EVP of communications and president of the PepsiCo Foundation. Before that, he spent a decade at Disney/ABC, working as an executive producer and then senior executive producer on numerous news programs and political shows.
McDonald’s created the Global Impact Team in 2020, naming Katie Beirne Fallon, a former advisor to President Barack Obama, to oversee the department. Fallon took a position with Fidelity Investments earlier this summer, according to her page on LinkedIn.
Jon Banner / Photo courtesy of McDonald's.
The department includes sustainability and ESG, government relations and public policy, communications and international corporate relations, along with the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
That team has worked on a range of initiatives, including the company’s efforts to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050, its exit from Russia and its global diversity, equity and inclusion report, among other things.
At PepsiCo, Banner led internal and external communications, co-created its new sustainability vision and won a number of corporate awards. At ABC, he earned 16 Emmy awards.
Banner’s hiring comes at a time of considerable change in the McDonald’s executive suite, including the addition of a trio of new board members earlier this week. The company also promoted CFO Kevin Ozan to oversee strategic initiatives and named Ian Borden CFO. Marion Gross was named chief global supply chain officer, Jill McDonald now heads up large international markets and Brian Rice is the global chief information officer.
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