Papa John’s International, Inc. announced the retirement of Chief Operating Officer, International, Jack Swaysland. Amanda Clark was promoted to Chief International and Development Officer and will now oversee international strategy in addition to her global development responsibilities. Liz Williams was also named Chief International Operations Officer, reporting to Ms. Clark. She will assume Mr. Swaysland’s role and will be responsible for Papa Johns international markets and international team.
Ms. Clark joined Papa Johns in 2020 as Chief Development Officer, after eight years at Taco Bell where she led restaurant experience, North America development and also served as General Manager of Canada during her time there. During her two years with Papa Johns, the Company has reinvigorated development, achieving one of its best years ever of net new restaurants opened in 2021. In addition, under Ms. Clark’s leadership Papa Johns has forged its largest domestic and international development deals in the Company’s history. Among these, the agreement with FountainVest Partners to open over 1,350 new stores across South China by 2040 is the largest development deal ever announced in the pizza industry and alone will grow Papa Johns global unit count by 25 percent.
“Amanda and her team have been a significant driver of the growth of Papa Johns over the past year,” said Papa John’s President and CEO Rob Lynch. “There’s no doubt that our international business is becoming more and more important as we continue to take advantage of the vast whitespace available to us outside of North America. In addition, Amanda will enhance the integration between our North American and International businesses, which will be critical as we look to accelerate growth and create more efficiencies globally.