Focus Brands announces 3 chief staff leaders

Focus Brands has added three senior leaders to its management team, according to a press release.

Julie Younglove-Webb joins the company as chief brand officer for Auntie Anne’s, while Jim Cannon takes on the role of SVP of design and construction. Chris Newman will serve as SVP of real estate.

“One of the most important investments a leader can make is in recruiting the best talent and assembling the right teams,” Jim Holthouser, CEO of Focus Brands, said in the press release. “Each of these three new leaders bring an impressive depth of talent and expertise to their respective areas of the business and will be critical in driving our continued success. We look forward to seeing all that they’ll accomplish at Focus Brands.”

Younglove-Webb will lead Auntie Anne’s overall strategy and execution of marketing and operations. She joins the team from Domino’s Pizza, where she served as SVP of corporate operations in the U.S.

Cannon will provide strategic leadership to the design and construction department in developing and managing Focus Brands’ prototypes, ensuring locations are successfully designed, built and opened on time and within budget. He has held roles in design and development for brands such as Arby’s, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Jack in the Box.

Newman will oversee all aspects of Focus Brand’s real estate strategy and comes to the company from Next Chapter Properties LLC, where he led the development of multifamily communities in four states as the group’s director of real estate.

Focus Brands is the franchisor and operator of more than 6,400 restaurants, cafes, ice cream shoppes, and bakeries in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and over 55 foreign countries under the Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, Moe’s Southwest Grill, McAlister’s Deli, and Schlotzsky’s brand names, as well as the Seattle’s Best Coffee brand on certain military bases and in certain international markets.