LOUISVILLE, KY. — Tracy Skeans was promoted to chief operating officer at Yum! Brands Inc.

A 20-year veteran of the company, Skeans was named chief transformation and people officer in 2016. She held several positions at Pizza Hut before that, including president of Pizza Hut International, chief people officer for Pizza Hut’s global and US divisions, senior director of human resources and director of financial planning. She serves on the board of directors for the Brown-Forman Corp. and the Women’s Foodservice Forum.

Her promotion to COO formalizes the expanded role she already plays in driving cross-brand collaboration on operational execution, people capability and customer experience initiatives, Yum! Brands said. She will retain her current responsibilities as chief transformation and people officer and will continue reporting to David Gibbs, chief executive officer of Yum! Brands.

“Tracy and I share a people-first vision and passion for elevating the customer and employee experience, which makes her the perfect choice for chief operating officer in our next phase of growth,” Gibbs said. “Tracy has been an invaluable strategic partner to me and our global leadership team as we have navigated through some of the most pivotal milestones in our history, including our transformation to a pure play franchisor in 2019 and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic.”