J. David Karam to be President; Stephen D. Farrar to be Chief
Operating Officer; and Ken C. Calwell to be Chief Marketing Officer
Triarc Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRY, TRY.B, "Triarc"), the franchisor of
the Arby’s®
restaurant system ("Arby's"), announced today that following the closing
of the pending merger between Wendy's International, Inc. (NYSE: WEN,
"Wendy's") and Triarc, J. David Karam, 50, will assume the position of
President of Wendy’s®;
Stephen D. Farrar, 57, will assume the position of Chief Operating
Officer of Wendy’s; and Ken C. Calwell, 46,
will assume the position of Chief Marketing Officer of Wendy’s.
The merger of Wendy’s and Triarc is expected
to close in the second half of 2008.
In assuming the role of President of Wendy’s
after the closing, Mr. Karam will succeed Kerrii B. Anderson, who
currently serves as both President and Chief Executive Officer. As
announced on April 24, 2008, Roland Smith, Triarc’s
Chief Executive Officer, will also assume the position of Chief
Executive Officer of Wendy’s. Mr. Farrar will
succeed Dave Near, who will resume his role as a leading Wendy’s
franchisee. Mr. Calwell will succeed Paul Kershisnik, who was named
interim Chief Marketing Officer in February 2008. Mr. Kershisnik will
continue in his role as interim CMO through the closing of the merger
and then plans to work closely with Calwell in a senior leadership role
in marketing.
Mr. Karam currently is a minority shareholder and serves as President of
Cedar Enterprises, Inc., which owns and operates 135 Wendy’s
Old Fashioned Hamburgers restaurants in Indianapolis, Las Vegas, San
Antonio, Hartford and Seattle. Cedar Enterprises is also the parent
company of Syrus, Ltd., which provides information processing services
designed to increase operating productivity and financial performance
for nearly 20% of the Wendy’s
franchise-operated restaurants throughout the country. As a franchisee,
Mr. Karam was the recipient of the Founders Award in 1990, honoring R.
David Thomas, and the Diamond Award for the National Marketer of the
Year in 1998. Prior to joining Cedar Enterprises, Inc., he was a Senior
Auditor at Touche & Ross (now Deloitte). He holds a BSBA in accounting
from The Ohio State University and completed the Owner President
Management Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business
Administration.
In connection with joining Wendy’s as
President, Mr. Karam will relinquish management of the day-to-day
operations of Cedar Enterprises and its subsidiaries and resign from
their respective boards of directors. Mr. Karam will continue as a
minority shareholder of Cedar Enterprises and will dispose of his
interest in Syrus, Ltd.
Mr. Farrar returned to Wendy’s in April 2008
as Chief of North American Operations in the U.S. and Canada after
retiring in 2006. In his current role, he is responsible for improving
restaurant operations at company and franchise restaurants in all three
U.S. regions and Canada. During his 26-year career with Wendy’s,
Mr. Farrar served in a variety of roles where his achievements included
helping to establish Wendy’s Service
Excellence™ program, pioneering Wendy’s
Super Value Menu®, creating a human resources
planning and development system, and developing numerous planning and
control systems to reduce costs. He was one of the system’s
most respected leaders and seasoned operators with a track record that
earned him a Wendy’s Hall of Famer
distinction. Before joining Wendy’s, Mr.
Farrar held various positions at Restaurant Profitability Analysts,
Pelican’s Restaurants, Ten Tex Food, Steak
and Ale Restaurants, and McDonald’s. He
attended the University of Texas, Arlington.
Mr. Calwell most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer–Executive
Vice President, Marketing, Research and Development at Domino’s
Pizza, Inc., where he was responsible for the leadership of all national
marketing, brand strategy, advertising, new product development,
database marketing, media, field marketing, pricing, marketing research,
R&D, CRM, and sports and event marketing. Prior to joining Domino’s
in 2001, Mr.
