- Push-out Score determined
- After about six years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Comma
- Search for a successor
- Comma said 119 words
(exechange) — San Diego, California, December 11, 2019 — Lenny Comma, chief executive of Jack in the Box, leaves. As announced by Jack in the Box Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Wednesday, December 11, 2019, Leonard A. (Lenny) Comma leaves his post as Chief Executive Officer at the fast food restaurant company after about six years in the role.
Among the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in the U.S. based on market capitalization, the average tenure of the CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 7.4 years, according to data compiled by exechange.
Jack in the Box will undertake a search for a successor.
“Now is an appropriate time”
Lenny Comma’s departure from the CEO post is explained as follows. Jack in the Box said: “Although Mr. Comma has not set a specific date to leave the company, he has informed the Board that he believes now is an appropriate time for the company to move forward with identifying a successor with whom Mr. Comma can work on a smooth and efficient transition of leadership.”
Precise information regarding Lenny Comma’s future plans was not immediately available.
Share price decline
The announcement follows a decline in Jack in the Box Inc.’s share price of 27% since January 2017.
In the position of CEO since 2014
Lenny Comma became CEO of the Company in 2014.
Comma was appointed a Director, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2014, and since that date has served as a member of the Executive Committee.
From May 2012 until October 2014, Comma served as President, and from November 2010 to January 1, 2014, as Chief Operating Officer of Jack in the Box Inc.
Comma joined the Company in 2001 as Director of Convenience Store & Fuel Operations for the Company’s proprietary chain of Quick Stuff convenience stores, which included more than 60 locations at the time it was sold in 2009.
In 2004, he was promoted to Division Vice President of Quick Stuff Operations, and in 2006 he was promoted to Regional Vice President of Quick Stuff and the Company’s Southern California region, which included more than 150 Jack in the Box restaurants.
In 2007, Comma was promoted to Vice President of Operations, Division II, and had oversight of nearly 1,200 company and franchised Jack in the Box restaurants in the Western U.S.
Prior to joining Jack in the Box Inc., Comma worked for ExxonMobil Corporation since 1989, with his last position as a Regional Manager with responsibility for supporting more than 300 franchisees.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding the management change on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Jack in the Box and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 50.2019 ($).