Panera Bread Grows Executive Team

Nikka Copeland—formerly of Burger King Corp., among other brands—has joined Panera Bread as senior vice president of its newly created Office of Transformation & Strategy.

As SVP, Copeland will manage the strategic execution of Panera’s three-year growth plan. She will report to CEO Paul Carbone.

“I look forward to working closely with Nikka as we develop and execute our strategic plan to build a culture of highly engaged and empowered teams, deliver an exceptional guest experience and increase franchisee profitability,” says Carbone. “Nikka brings a wealth of experience in finance, strategy and operations that will prove invaluable as we create the blueprint to scale and grow Panera for the future.”

Copeland most recently served as SVP, business services domain lead at World Kinect, which operates in the global energy industry. Overall, she has a history of leading complex global transformations, unlocking performance and scaling growth throughout more than 20 years of experience across multiple industries, including foodservice, says Panera.

Copeland received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Univerzitet ‘Sv. Kiril I Metódiji’ vo Skopje in the Republic of North Macedonia, a master’s in business administration from University of Oklahoma, and is a graduate of the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.