Yum China has appointed Johnson Huang as its first chief customer officer and Warton Wang, who is currently the chief development officer, as GM of KFC. Both roles are effective on May 1.

Yum China says creating the chief customer officer position is one of the company’s strategies to “integrate customer-centricity into its brand-driven culture”.

Johnson Huang has served as GM of KFC and joined the company in 2006. Prior to that, he was the company’s chief information and marketing support officer and helped build IT functions and digital infrastructure.

In his new role, Huang will focus on enhancing customer experiences as well as understanding the market demand and creating cross-functional initiatives. He will also supervise some brands like Lavazza, Coffii & Joy and Taco Bell, and continue to report to Joey Wat, the company’s CEO.

Meanwhile, Warton Wang will succeed Huang as the GM of KFC. Wang joined the brand in 1998 as an operations management trainee and has held various operations roles within KFC, including as market manager of Hangzhou KFC.

Wang became the regional VP of KFC Field Operations in 2015 and the company’s chief development officer in 2020.

“Digital is a core growth enabler of Yum China to unlock tremendous opportunities. Johnson’s new leadership role will enable us to continuously strengthen our digital capabilities and elevate the customer experience,” Joey Wat.

“With his strong technology background and deep understanding of the organisation, Johnson is most suited for this new role. [His] proven track record of leading KFC in the past five years gives us confidence that he can transform our emerging brands into future growth engines for Yum China.”