Name: Natalie Rothman
New title: Chief people officer, Inspire Brands
Previous title: Chief human resources officer, Advance Autoparts
Natalie Rothman will assume a post as Inspire Brands’ chief people officer beginning in late May, the company announced Thursday. Rothman will replace Melissa Strait, who worked at the company for 40 years before announcing her retirement in January, according to the press release.
Rothman previously headed Advance Autoparts’ human resources. According to Rothman’s LinkedIn profile, she served as Advance’s chief human resource officer for about 7 years, during which time Advance had about 68,000 employees. Before Advance, Rothman directed PepsiCo’s global foodservice division’s HR operations, when that division had more than 5,500 employees.
Inspire CEO Paul Brown said Rothman’s “experience building and developing teams, as well as her ability to strengthen culture and ultimately attract top talent will be instrumental to our growth.”
With residual labor market tightness and high turnover, sound leadership in human resources could strengthen Inspire. Dine Brands, Papa Johns and Bloomin’ have all hired new HR leaders in the last eight months, while Chipotle announced a plan to hire 15,000 additional workers in early 2023.
Rothman’s hiring follows a series of leadership changes at Inspire. On April 12, the company named new brand presidents at Arby’s, Sonic and Buffalo Wild Wings. A week later, Inspire announced three more leadership promotions: new operations SVPs at Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings, and a new SVP for operations innovation.
