McDonald's Loses Its Second CMO in Two Years, One Day After a Rough Sales Number
Alyssa Buetikofer is stepping down as McDonald's USA's marketing chief less than two years into the job, a day after the company reported falling US comparable sales.
McDonald's USA chief marketing and customer experience officer Alyssa Buetikofer is leaving next month, staying through December 18 to hand off the role. An internal note says she wants to spend more time with her family. It arrived one day after McDonald's reported that U.S. comparable sales fell 0.2 percent in the third quarter of 2026, even as global comparable sales rose 1.5 percent and beat Wall Street's expectations.
Buetikofer only stepped into the top U.S. marketing job less than two years ago, when Tariq Hassan left. The internal note credits her tenure with bringing back Snack Wraps and Monopoly, launching a new beverage platform, and running a Grinch collaboration, the kind of greatest-hits list that companies hand departing executives whether the numbers moved or not.
McDonald's isn't naming a permanent replacement yet. In the meantime, global CMO Morgan Flatley, who ran U.S. marketing from 2017 to 2021 and built the "Famous Orders" platform, adds interim chief creative officer to her title, while 17-year McDonald's veteran Charlie Newberger steps in as interim marketing and commercial chief. Two interim executives covering one open seat, timed to a soft domestic sales quarter, is not exactly a vote of confidence in how smoothly this transition was planned.
Source: Marketing Dive
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
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