British Stephen J. “Steve” Easterbrook was born in 1967 and grew up in Watford. He was educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys. Steve earned a natural sciences degree at St. Chad’s College, Durham University and played cricket.
After graduating from university he trained as an accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Steve joined McDonald’s in 1993 as a financial reporting manager in London. He also spent 18 months at “Hamburger University," the McDonald’s corporate training academy near Chicago.
After working in numerous roles in operation and finance he was named vice president for the UK’s southern region in 2001. He was promoted head of McDonald’s UK in 2006. Steve became in-charge of more than 1,200 outlets and an estimated £35 million marketing budget. In this role he implemented a major restaurant design, emphasized employee training, and adding health options to the menu which resulted in turning around the business in the region.
In 2010 Steve was named president of McDonald’s Europe, overseeing 7,000 restaurants in 39 countries. Initially he had been given the newly created role of global chief brand officer. McDonald’s made a U-turn on the decision after just two months and moved Steve back to London to look after its European business.
Some are of the opinion that this situation made Steve leave McDonald’s in 2011. He landed a new job as chief executive of UK restaurant chain PizzaExpress. He was responsible for growing the number of outlets from 400 to around 600. It was a short stint as he left and became head of Wagamama, the noodle chain, in 2012.
Steve returned to McDonald’s in 2013, this time finally taking up the global chief brand officer role permanently at the company’s headquarters in Illinois. Under his term the company began experimenting with more upmarket restaurants in Australia and made dramatic changes to its menu in the US.
Steve became CEO of McDonald’s on March 1, 2015. He faces a major challenge as the company has been experiencing a continuous declining in sales. McDonald’s sees him as the man who can get the job done.
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