Pizza Hut and Del Taco have added two new faces to their teams to lead marketing efforts for their respective brands.
Pizza Hut promoted Brian Niccol to new chief marketing officer. He replaces Bill Ogle, who left the company to pursue outside opportunities, the company said. Ogle worked as Pizza Hut’s marketing officer for nearly two years.
Niccol previously worked as vice president of national brand marketing and strategy where he was in charge of developing a brand strategy and national brand marketing programs for Pizaa Hut. During that time, he helped lead the company this year to its highest share level in three years while delivering same store sales growth, the company said.
He joined Pizza Hut in 2005 as the vice president of strategy. In that role, he created the strategy that successfully repositioned the company for growth. Prior to that, Niccol worked 10 years in various brand management positions at Procter & Gamble.
In a separate development, Del Taco has named Mimi Somerman as the company’s chief marketing officer, a new position.
In her new role, Somerman will handle Del Taco’s brand and marketing strategy. She reports to Shirlene Lopez, president/chief operating officer. The position took effect Sept. 10.
Somerman most recently worked as senior vice president of marketing for Johnny Rockets, a retro diner chain where she worked to help revitalize the brand. In that position, she developed a new menu strategy and achieved above segment average same stores sales growth.
Sharon Fogg, Del Taco’s senior vice president of marketing, and the marketing and R&D team will report to Somerman.
Somerman started her career at Pepsi-Cola handling marketing management responsibilities for the Pepsi and Mountain Dew brands. She later was promoted to general management and oversaw several Pepsi-Cola markets in California. Somerman then moved on to Taco Bell as vice president of field marketing and senior vice president of marketing for Coco’s and Carrows.
She also held positions with agencies, including working as senior vice president for Alcone Marketing Group, where she oversaw work for brands such as Burger King, Evian and Oroweat.
Network
