David Gibbs

David Gibbs
Born	David Gibbs
Nationality	American
Occupation	Business executive
Title	Chief Executive Officer (2020–2025)
Employer	Yum! Brands
Known for	CEO of Yum! Brands

David Gibbs is an American business executive who served as the chief executive officer of Yum! Brands, Inc., the parent company of global fast-food chains KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Over the course of a career spanning more than three decades with the company, Gibbs rose through a series of increasingly senior roles in finance, operations, and brand leadership before assuming the top executive position. His tenure as CEO encompassed a period of significant global expansion and operational transformation for one of the world's largest restaurant companies. In March 2025, Yum! Brands announced that Gibbs would retire from his position in 2026, with the company's board of directors initiating a succession planning process to identify his replacement. In June 2025, the board unanimously elected Chris Turner as Gibbs's successor, with the transition effective October 1, 2025. Gibbs's 36-year career at Yum! Brands positioned him as one of the longest-serving executives in the company's history.

Career

Rise Through Yum! Brands

David Gibbs built his career almost entirely within the corporate structure of Yum! Brands and its predecessor entities. Over the span of 36 years, Gibbs held a variety of positions across the company's portfolio of restaurant brands, gaining experience in finance, strategy, and operational leadership. His career trajectory was described by Nation's Restaurant News as one that "was meant to culminate as the chief executive officer," reflecting the breadth and depth of his experience across the organization's various business units and geographic markets.

Yum! Brands, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, operates as one of the largest restaurant companies in the world, with a system of thousands of restaurants across more than 150 countries and territories under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands. Gibbs's progression through the company's ranks provided him with exposure to both the domestic and international dimensions of this global operation.

Chief Executive Officer

Gibbs assumed the role of chief executive officer of Yum! Brands, leading a company with one of the most expansive restaurant footprints in the quick-service industry. As CEO, he was responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and performance of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill. The company's business model during his tenure continued to emphasize franchise-driven growth, with the vast majority of Yum! Brands' restaurant locations operated by independent franchisees around the world.

During his time as CEO, Gibbs guided the company through a period that included both significant challenges and strategic initiatives. The global quick-service restaurant industry underwent considerable change during this era, with evolving consumer preferences, digital ordering transformation, and shifting economic conditions all affecting the competitive landscape.

Retirement and Succession

On March 31, 2025, Yum! Brands publicly announced leadership transition plans, disclosing that Gibbs intended to retire from the company in 2026. The company stated that its board of directors was conducting a "thorough succession planning process" to identify and prepare for the transition to new leadership. The announcement signaled the conclusion of Gibbs's long career with the company and initiated a period of formal succession planning at the highest level of the organization.

The succession process moved relatively quickly. On June 17, 2025, it was announced that the Yum! Brands board of directors had unanimously elected Chris Turner as the company's next chief executive officer, effective October 1, 2025. Turner, who had been serving in a senior role at the company, was selected to lead Yum! Brands into its next phase of growth and development.

In September 2025, as the transition date approached, Gibbs reflected publicly on his 36-year career with Yum! Brands. In an interview with Nation's Restaurant News, the arc of his career was characterized as one built with purpose and intentionality, spanning multiple decades and numerous roles across the company's brands and functions. The profile noted the breadth of Gibbs's résumé within the organization, underscoring the extent to which his professional life had been intertwined with the growth and evolution of Yum! Brands.

The formal leadership handoff to Turner on October 1, 2025, marked the end of Gibbs's active executive role at the company, though the original retirement announcement had indicated a transition period extending into 2026.

Recognition

Gibbs's career at the helm of one of the world's largest restaurant companies positioned him as a prominent figure in the quick-service restaurant industry. His 36-year tenure at Yum! Brands was noted by industry publications as a distinctive feature of his professional biography, reflecting sustained commitment to a single corporate organization across multiple decades and executive roles.

Nation's Restaurant News, one of the leading trade publications covering the restaurant industry, profiled Gibbs in connection with his retirement, highlighting the length and breadth of his career within the Yum! Brands system. The publication's coverage positioned his career arc as noteworthy within an industry where executive tenures of such length at a single company are relatively uncommon.

The Yum! Brands board of directors' public acknowledgment of Gibbs's leadership, as reflected in the company's formal announcement of the leadership transition, recognized his contributions to the organization over the course of his tenure.

Legacy

David Gibbs's career at Yum! Brands, spanning 36 years and culminating in the chief executive officer role, represents one of the longer tenures of continuous service at a major publicly traded restaurant company in the modern era of the quick-service industry. His rise through the organization's ranks — from earlier roles in finance and operations to the top leadership position — reflected a career path built on deep institutional knowledge and cross-functional experience within a single corporate entity.

The succession process that followed Gibbs's retirement announcement was characterized by the company as deliberate and orderly, with the board of directors conducting a formal search that resulted in the unanimous election of Chris Turner as the next CEO. The smooth nature of the transition, with a clear timeline and public communication, was consistent with governance practices emphasized by publicly traded companies seeking to maintain investor confidence during periods of leadership change.

Gibbs departed the CEO role at a time when Yum! Brands continued to operate as one of the largest restaurant companies globally, with its portfolio of brands — KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell — maintaining significant presence across international markets. The company's strategic direction during and following his tenure remained focused on franchise-driven growth and global expansion, priorities that had been central to Yum! Brands' corporate strategy for many years.