News

Papa John's names new HR exec with 'organizational change' expertise

January 23, 2019

Papa John's has named HR veteran, Marvin Boakye, as its first chief people officer and member of the brand's executive leadership team, reporting to CEO Steve Ritchie, a news release said. 

Boakye has more than 20 years of human resources experience, as well as expertise in change management and culture transformation. He has held human resources leadership roles for organizations across the United States, Canada and Latin America. 

He comes to the brand from a previous position as vice president of human resources at the petroleum company, Andeavor, in San Antonio, Texas, which was recently acquired by Marathon Petroleum. He has also served as an HR executive with telecom company, MTS Allstream, which is now part of Bell Canada, and at Goodyear, Pulte Group and The Home Depot.

"Boakye's expertise will help us to continue to push Papa John's forward in our transformation to become a better place to work for our 120,000 corporate and franchise team members," Papa John's President and CEO Steve Ritchie said in the release. "In our search for a chief people officer, our goal was to identify a proven talent development leader with expertise in driving organizational change. Boakye's impressive background will be an important asset to Papa John's growth strategy, especially as we continue to focus on our business outside of North America."

Boakye will play a critical leadership role in implementing the company's talent management strategy, which includes overseeing people operations; compensation and benefits; and learning and development. He replaces Senior Vice President of People Operations Bob Smith, who retired from Papa John's in August 2018 after 15 years.