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Eleven people have held the chief executive’s job at McDonald’s Corporation since 1959. Three of them held it in a single year: in 2004 one CEO died of a heart attack, his successor stepped down with cancer seven months later, and a third took over. Chris Kempczinski has run the company since November 2019.
LIST OF LEADERS & CEOS OF MCDONALD’S
McDonald’s has had 11 chief executives. The McDonald brothers founded the restaurant but never ran the corporation, so they sit outside the count. Dates from 1998 onward come from the company’s own filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
| # | Leader | Chief executive | How it ended |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Richard & Maurice McDonald | Founders, 1940–1961 | Sold to Ray Kroc for $2.7 million |
| 1 | Harry J. Sonneborn | 1959–1967 | Left after clashing with Kroc |
| 2 | Ray Kroc | Until 1973 or 1974 | Handed the job to Turner |
| 3 | Fred L. Turner | 1973 or 1974–1987 | Handed the job to Quinlan |
| 4 | Michael R. Quinlan | 1987–July 1998 | Handed the job to Greenberg |
| 5 | Jack M. Greenberg | Aug. 1998–Dec. 2002 | Retired |
| 6 | James R. Cantalupo | Jan. 2003–April 2004 | Died in office |
| 7 | Charlie Bell | April–Nov. 2004 | Stepped down with cancer |
| 8 | Jim Skinner | Nov. 2004–June 2012 | Retired |
| 9 | Don Thompson | July 2012–March 2015 | Retired |
| 10 | Steve Easterbrook | March 2015–Nov. 2019 | Terminated by the board |
| 11 | Chris Kempczinski | Nov. 2019–present | In office |
WHO WAS THE FIRST CEO OF MCDONALD’S?
Harry J. Sonneborn was the first chief executive of McDonald’s Corporation, not Ray Kroc. His Chicago Tribune obituary calls him “the first president and chief executive of McDonald’s Corp.” and dates his presidency from 1959 to 1967.
Sonneborn was a former Tastee Freez vice president who joined Kroc in 1955. He devised the real-estate model McDonald’s still runs on: the company controls the site of each restaurant and leases it to the franchisee, which makes rent a core source of income. Kroc called him “the financial wizard.”
Sonneborn also arranged the loan that paid for the 1961 buyout of the McDonald brothers. He left in 1967 after disagreements with Kroc and sold his stock. He died in 1992.
RICHARD & MAURICE MCDONALD (FOUNDERS OF MCDONALD’S)
Richard and Maurice McDonald founded McDonald’s, but neither was ever its CEO. The brothers started with a hot dog stand, opened a drive-in in San Bernardino, California, in 1940, and relaunched it in 1948 around their Speedee Service System.
They were not shy about expanding. By 1954 the brothers had sold at least 15 franchises of their own, the first in Phoenix in 1953. That year they turned the franchising rights over to a milkshake-machine salesman named Ray Kroc. In 1961 they sold him everything, name included, for $2.7 million. Their story sits alongside other fast food founders who built the chains and lost control of them.
RAY KROC
Ray Kroc built McDonald’s Corporation, but he was not its first chief executive and he gave up the title a decade before he died. Kroc sold Multimixer milkshake machines, and in 1954 he went to San Bernardino on purpose: one hamburger stand there was running so many of his mixers.
He signed a franchising agreement with the brothers that year and opened his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955. He bought the brothers out for $2.7 million in 1961.
Sonneborn held the chief executive’s title until 1967. Kroc became chairman in 1968 and gave up the CEO title in 1973 or 1974; the sources split on the year. He stayed on as senior chairman until he died on January 14, 1984. The Golden Arches have their own history.
FRED L. TURNER
Fred Turner ran McDonald’s as chief executive from 1973 or 1974 until 1987. He started in 1956 behind the counter of Kroc’s Des Plaines restaurant, led the creation of Hamburger University in 1961, and became president in 1968.
Kroc had no son and often said he did. “His name is Fred Turner,” Kroc wrote in 1977. “He has never disappointed me.” The line appears in Turner’s Los Angeles Times obituary.
Breakfast arrived on Turner’s watch, but he did not invent it. A Santa Barbara franchisee named Herb Peterson created the Egg McMuffin in 1972. Turner was chairman from 1977 to 1990 and died on January 7, 2013.
MICHAEL R. QUINLAN
Michael Quinlan was CEO of McDonald’s from 1987 to July 1998. He started in the company mailroom in 1963 and became president in 1982.
His best-known miss was the Arch Deluxe, a sandwich introduced in May 1996. It failed, and it now sits among the discontinued McDonald’s menu items.
Quinlan announced his own handover. “I’ve been CEO for more than a decade,” he said in the April 1998 announcement, “and I think it is time to utilize the tremendous depth of management skill at McDonald’s as we move into the next century.” He stayed chairman until May 1999. Quinlan died on September 22, 2025, at 80.
JACK M. GREENBERG
Jack Greenberg was CEO from August 1, 1998, to December 31, 2002, and added the chairman’s title in May 1999. His years brought a dollar menu, healthier choices and a set of partner brands.
They were hard years for the company. Greenberg announced his retirement on December 5, 2002.
JAMES R. CANTALUPO
James Cantalupo became chairman and CEO on January 1, 2003, and held the job for less than 16 months. His turnaround was called the Plan to Win. It stopped chasing new restaurants and went after more customers in the ones McDonald’s already had. Premium Salads arrived in 2003 and sold.
Cantalupo died on April 19, 2004, of an apparent heart attack. He was in Orlando, Florida, for the company’s worldwide convention of restaurant owners. The board announced it that morning and named his successor the same day.
His death also split the top job in two. The board made director Andrew McKenna non-executive chairman that day, and McDonald’s kept the chairman and CEO roles apart for the next 20 years, until Chris Kempczinski took both in May 2024.
CHARLIE BELL
Charlie Bell was CEO for seven months, from April 19 to November 22, 2004. He had joined McDonald’s in Australia as a part-time crew member at 15 and became the country’s youngest store manager at 19. He helped write the Plan to Win he inherited.
Bell was diagnosed with cancer in May 2004, a month after taking the job. He stepped down in November and died of colorectal cancer in January 2005. “Even during his hospitalization and chemotherapy, Charlie led this company with pride and determination,” chairman Andrew McKenna said in the company’s announcement.
JIM SKINNER
Jim Skinner was CEO from November 22, 2004, to June 30, 2012. He was the third chief executive of that year. He had started as a restaurant manager trainee and retired after 41 years with the company.
Skinner’s McDonald’s added wireless internet and launched the McCafé coffee line across the United States in 2009. For the coffee chain’s own succession story, see Starbucks’ CEO history.
DON THOMPSON
Don Thompson was CEO from July 1, 2012, to March 1, 2015. He had joined McDonald’s in 1990 as an electrical engineer.
His last full year was a hard one. Comparable sales fell 1.0 percent in 2014, with fewer customers in every part of the business. The company announced his retirement on January 28, 2015.
STEVE EASTERBROOK
Steve Easterbrook was CEO from March 1, 2015, to November 1, 2019. He was promoted from inside: he was global chief brand officer, and he had earlier run McDonald’s in the United Kingdom and then McDonald’s Europe. He said he wanted “a modern, progressive burger company.”
All Day Breakfast launched nationally in October 2015, in his first year. Under him McDonald’s added mobile ordering and self-order kiosks, and its annual report for 2017 said fresh beef Quarter Pounders would reach most U.S. restaurants in 2018.
His exit came in stages:
- November 2019. McDonald’s said Easterbrook had left after the board found he “violated company policy and demonstrated poor judgment involving a recent consensual relationship with an employee.”
- August 2020. The company sued him in Delaware to recover compensation and severance. It said a further investigation had led the board to conclude that he had lied to the company and the board, destroyed information, and had been in sexual relationships with three other employees. Those were the company’s claims in the lawsuit.
- December 2021. The suit settled. McDonald’s said Easterbrook returned equity and cash worth more than $105 million, and he apologized in the same release.
- January 2023. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged him with “making false and misleading statements to investors” about his firing. Without admitting or denying the findings, he accepted a five-year bar from serving as an officer or director and a $400,000 penalty. The SEC charged McDonald’s too, for shortcomings in what it disclosed about his separation agreement. The company also settled without admitting or denying the findings, and the SEC imposed no fine, citing its cooperation.
CHRIS KEMPCZINSKI
Chris Kempczinski has been CEO of McDonald’s since November 2019 and chairman since May 2024. He is not a company lifer. He joined from Kraft Heinz in 2015 to run strategy, then led the U.S. business from 2017.
His plan, announced in November 2020, is called Accelerating the Arches. Two of his experiments ended quietly. The McPlant burger was tested in U.S. restaurants and dropped in 2022 with no national launch. An AI drive-thru test with IBM ran at about 100 restaurants from October 2021 and ended in 2024.
In early 2026 Kempczinski became famous for one bite. He posted a taste test of the new Big Arch burger, took a very small mouthful, and the video passed 4.5 million views around the burger’s March 3 launch. Burger King and Wendy’s answered with executive videos of their own.
McDonald’s still named him chairman and CEO in its earnings release of November 4, 2026. No successor has been announced.
WHO OWNS MCDONALD’S?
No person or family owns McDonald’s. It is a public company, and its 2026 proxy statement lists only three holders above 5 percent, all investment firms.
| Shareholder | Stake |
|---|---|
| The Vanguard Group | 10.03% |
| BlackRock | 7.3% |
| State Street | 5.1% |
The restaurants are mostly not McDonald’s own, either. Of 45,356 restaurants at the end of 2025, about 95 percent were run by franchisees.
MCDONALD’S CEO HISTORY FAQ
Who is the CEO of McDonald’s now?
Chris Kempczinski is the chairman and CEO of McDonald’s. He became chief executive in November 2019, after the board terminated Steve Easterbrook, and added the chairman’s title in May 2024. The company’s November 2026 earnings release still lists him in both roles, and no successor has been named.
Who took over McDonald’s after Ray Kroc?
Fred Turner took over as chief executive after Ray Kroc, in 1973 or 1974 depending on the source. Turner had started behind the counter of Kroc’s first restaurant in 1956. He followed Kroc as chairman in 1977, and Kroc stayed on as senior chairman until his death in January 1984.
How many CEOs has McDonald’s had?
McDonald’s has had 11 chief executives, counting Harry Sonneborn as the first in 1959 and Chris Kempczinski as the current one. The company publishes no official count. The McDonald brothers are not included because they founded the restaurant and never held a title at McDonald’s Corporation.
Who was the CEO of McDonald’s before Chris Kempczinski?
Steve Easterbrook was CEO before Chris Kempczinski, from March 2015 to November 2019. The board terminated him over a relationship with an employee. He later returned more than $105 million in a settlement with the company and accepted a five-year officer and director bar from the SEC.
SOURCES
- Chicago Tribune, obituary of Harry J. Sonneborn, October 6, 1992
- Valerie J. Nelson, obituary of Fred L. Turner, Los Angeles Times via HeraldNet, January 8, 2013
- Encyclopedia.com, McDonald’s Corp. company history
- PBS SoCal, the San Bernardino origins of McDonald’s
- McDonald’s Corporation, press release on Michael Quinlan and Jack Greenberg, April 30, 1998
- McDonald’s Corporation, press release on the death of Jim Cantalupo, April 19, 2004
- McDonald’s Corporation, Form 8-K on Charlie Bell and Jim Skinner, November 2004
- McDonald’s Corporation, press release on Steve Easterbrook and Chris Kempczinski, November 3, 2019
- McDonald’s Corporation, settlement announcement, December 16, 2021
- Securities and Exchange Commission, press release 2023-4, January 9, 2023
- McDonald’s Corporation, 2026 proxy statement and annual report for 2025
- KTVU, report on the Big Arch taste-test video, March 2026
- McDonald’s Corporation, announcement of Charlie Bell’s death, January 16, 2005
- Encyclopedia.com, Ray Kroc entry
- Associated Press via NBC News, obituary of Herb Peterson, 2008
- McDonald’s Corporation, press release of May 4, 2015
- McDonald’s Corporation, third-quarter earnings release, November 4, 2026
- McDonald’s Corporation, announcement of Chris Kempczinski as chairman, March 19, 2024
- McDonald’s Corporation, Form 8-K on the lawsuit against Steve Easterbrook, August 10, 2020
Updated November 2026: every date and title on this page was rechecked against SEC filings, company releases and obituaries. An earlier version left out Harry Sonneborn, gave Charlie Bell 16 months as CEO instead of seven, and credited All Day Breakfast to Jim Skinner; it launched under Steve Easterbrook.
