Dive Brief:

• Domino's named Stu Levy, executive vice president of supply chain services, its new chief financial officer Thursday. He replaces outgoing CFO of five years Jeffrey Lawrence, who will remain at the company as advisor to CEO Ritch Allison through the end of 2020.
• The largest pizza chain in the world by global retail sales said Cindy Headen, senior vice president of supply chain services, will join the executive team, filling Levy's former role. Both promotions are effective Aug. 20.
• "In a relatively short period of time, both Stu and Cindy have made profound positive impacts on our company," Allison said in the press release. "They are strong, capable leaders who are respected across our global system, and I am excited to have them in these roles."

Dive Insight:

"I'm really excited to join such a seasoned, capable finance organization," Levy told CFO Dive in an email Thursday. "I hope that my strategy and operations experience can help enhance the team's ability to support our continued growth as a brand.”

Levy joined Domino's in 2019 after two years as chief transformation officer at waste, recycling and energy service provider Republic Services. Before that, Levy spent 13 years at consultancy Bain & Company, including six years as a partner.

Since arriving at Domino's, Levy and his supply chain team have worked on service improvements for the U.S. and Canadian franchisees, as well as driven "significant efficiencies across all critical areas of the production and distribution operations," the release said. 

Under Levy's leadership, the supply chain team continued strengthening its supplier relationship which, coupled with recent operational improvements, allowed Domino’s to navigate pandemic-related challenges, which it has done in spades. Last month, the chain shared its second-quarter earnings, which included $920 million in quarterly revenue and a 16% jump in same-store sales.

In addition, over the past year and a half, Levy and his team opened new supply chain centers and launched a global food safety program for the company. 

"Stu has a recognized ability to develop and execute practical strategies to drive bottom-line results," Allison said in the press release.

Headen joined Domino's in 2015 as vice president of procurement & product management, and in 2018 was promoted to senior vice president of global procurement and supply chain pperations.

Prior to joining Domino's, Headen spent nearly 15 years with Pepsico USA, 11 of which were spent leading global procurement.

"[Headen] and her team have been able to secure substantial cost savings to our system by negotiating new contract terms with many of our suppliers and vendors," Allison said. "More importantly, she has led the drive to stabilize pricing from our suppliers, ensuring our cost structure is predictable, while simultaneously ensuring an uninterrupted supply of our key food products."

Levy's supply chain experience will prove integral to his CFO duties. The supply chain represents about 80% of a company's cost, and can represent even more in capital-intensive businesses. With decisions about suppliers, transportation and other costs often made in a vacuum, the CFO is prized to lead the move to a digital supply chain and drive deeper insights from which the whole company can benefit.