Church’s Chicken Appoints Two New Vice Presidents

Church’s Chicken is frying up new leadership as the quick-service brand announced the appointments of two new vice presidents today.

The chain, which was purchased by the parent company of Quiznos earlier this month, hired Claudia Lezcano as vice president of brand strategy and activation and promoted Sarah Whiticar to vice president of global business intelligence and product development.

Lezcano has worked in the marketing and advertising industry for more than 20 years. She most recently served as assistant vice president of product marketing for Celebrity Cruises in Miami. She’s also worked in marketing for the Miami Marlins and the Miami Dolphins.

In her new role, she will oversee media, marketing, product promotions and public relations functions with the goal of driving sales, profitability and traffic.

Whiticar joined Church’s Chicken in 2017 as the senior director of global business intelligence. In that role, she conducted research to identify customer needs and led multi-market test work to validate a new and more profitable menu in the U.S., while applying brand repositioning insights to international markets.

Before Church’s Chicken, Whiticar worked for Popeyes as the global director of knowledge and insights and for Ruby Tuesday as the director of research and consumer insights.

The pair will report to Brian Gies, the executive vice president and global chief marketing officer.