KFC chief brand officer role goes to Amy Ellis Durini

KFC has created a new job at the top of its brand. Amy Ellis Durini becomes global chief brand officer on 1 November. The company announced it on 3 September. No one has held this role at KFC before.

Amy Ellis Durini reports straight to Scott Mezvinsky

Durini will report to Scott Mezvinsky, who runs KFC worldwide. Her remit covers brand strategy, loyalty schemes, how restaurants look inside and new store formats. She will also work with the marketing chiefs who run KFC in each country.

She joins from Taco Bell International, where she was chief marketing and strategy officer. Both chains belong to Yum Brands. Before that she spent eight years inside KFC, on the global team and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

KFC began redrawing Colonel Sanders in June 2026

The new job sits on top of a rebrand KFC started in June. The chain is redrawing Colonel Sanders, its founder figure, and redesigning restaurants. The menu is moving towards boneless chicken, drinks and dipping sauces, following tests in its Saucy stores.

Valerie Kubizniak stays global chief marketing officer and has led that work since 2022. So KFC now has two senior brand posts: one for marketing, one for the brand itself.

Big chains keep splitting one marketing job into two

Other large retailers are moving the same way, though not always in the same direction. In August Kohl’s put marketing and digital under one chief customer officer, pulling roles together rather than apart. At Audi, Martin Sander takes over sales and marketing from October.

The pattern behind both moves is the same. Groups that sell in dozens of countries want one person who owns what the brand means, so local teams stop inventing their own version of it.

Food brands buy growth while KFC rebuilds its own

KFC is choosing to rework what it already owns. Other food groups buy it instead. Barilla bought the mac and cheese brand Goodles this week rather than build a rival from scratch.

For marketers who work with KFC, the practical change comes later. A single brand owner usually means tighter rules on logo, tone and menu photography, and fewer local exceptions. Country teams that want their own campaign will probably have to argue for it.