Former McDonald’s executive to head up Halfords

Halfords Group Plc hired the head of McDonald's UK operations as its new chief executive officer, ending a near three-month search for a successor to Matt Davies.

Jill McDonald will take charge of the car-parts and bicycle retailer on May 11th, the company said Monday in a statement. She joins after about nine years at McDonald’s, where in addition to being UK CEO she is president of the restaurant chain’s northwest Europe unit.

Ms McDonald “has a strong track record of heading a large, complex, service-led business with great success,” Halfords chairman Dennis Millard said in the statement.

Halfords has been seeking a CEO since January, when Davies announced that he planned to step down to join Tesco as head of the supermarket company’s UK operations.

Ms McDonald, whose past career includes stints at Colgate- Palmolive Co. and British Airways, will be paid an annual salary of £500,000 plus a bonus of as much as 150 per cent of her salary, prorated to her 2015-2016 service.

Bloomberg