Paroev Oleg Yuryevich

Paroev Oleg Yuryevich

Education

Oleg Paroyev graduated from MGIMO in the direction of "International Economic Relations."

1998-2015

In 1998-2015 worked at Diageo (as CFO) and Philip Morris (responsible for finance, internal control and took part in strategic planning and implementation of IT systems).

In 2015, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Russian representative office of McDonald's.

2021

In April 2021, he was appointed vice president for transformation of the Russian office of McDonald's. In this role, he was responsible for the work of the company's new department, including the technology group, working with big data and directly transforming the business. Under the leadership of Paroev, the functions of mobile ordering and payment through the application were implemented, the company said.

2022

Appointment as CEO of McDonald's in Russia

On February 2, 2022, it was announced the appointment of Oleg Paroev as the new CEO of the Russian representative office of McDonald's. In this position, he will replace Swiss Mark Karen, who has led the company since 2018. Karen will leave McDonald's LLC by the end of February 2022. Why it was decided to change the leadership is not reported.

McDonald's in Russia is the strongest brand, and it is a great honor for me to lead the company at this stage of development, because Mark has achieved very impressive results, completely changing the trajectory of doing business. For 32 years on the Russian market, McDonald's proved that the focus on the development of the team, socially significant projects and cooperation with Russian suppliers allows the company not only to develop at a very fast pace, but also to contribute to improving people's lives, "said Paroev.

Paul Pomeroy, Senior Vice President, Management at McDonald's International Markets, commenting on the change of CEO of the company's Russian representative office, expressed confidence that under the leadership of Paroev, the fast food chain will continue to grow rapidly in the Russian Federation thanks to the strategic vision of the new head. ^[1]

Participation in the sale of McDonald's business in Russia with the right to buy back for 15 years

In early March 2022, top executives at McDonald's Corp. gathered for an annual meeting in Cascais, a swanky coastal resort town in Portugal. Just a few days before that, a military special operation of Russia in Ukraine began.

McDonald's, arguably the biggest symbol of American capitalism, initially behaved as usual. Since opening its first restaurant in Moscow in 1990, a powerful sign of easing Cold War tensions, the company has set up a trail for a host of other Western companies in Russia. In the days after the invasion, McDonald's Chief Executive Chris Kempczynski temporarily closed the company's restaurants in Ukraine for security reasons but continued to operate in Russia.

After arriving in Kashkaisha, Bloomberg later wrote, a dismayed Oleg Paroyev, recently appointed CEO of McDonald's in Russia, asked Kempczinski and then-CFO Kevin Ozan if the company was considering leaving Russia or suspending operations. They both looked at me and said, "Are you crazy? Do you really think that we will ever leave Russia? Of course not, "said Paroev.

Senior US officials have told both McDonald's and Coca-Cola that they should leave Russia.

The pressure of officials was growing. As a result, McDonald's and Coca-Cola announced the suspension of their Russian business. Kempczinski sent an email to McDonald's employees and franchisees saying he would temporarily close all restaurants in the country while continuing to pay employee salaries and maintain current lease conditions for restaurant sites.

In Moscow, Paroev was shocked. "We had no idea what would happen to the business, whether it would remain in limbo or be completely closed," he said later. Whether restaurants open again or not, there's a huge price to pay for it.

News of McDonald's decision to close restaurants has caused chaos. When Paroev ordered all McDonald's restaurants in Russia to close, some franchisees refused to comply.

As a result, McDonald's sold its business in Russia with the right to buy back within 15 years on market terms.

"Anything that could resemble McDonald's was going to be destroyed," Paroyev later recalled.

McDonald's lost not only financially but strategically. The Russian copycat brand easily adopted the McDonald's concept, assets and systems that have been created for decades, Bloomberg wrote.

Notes