Sixth Pizza Hut director in two years

Pizza Hut’s sixth marketing director in two years is likely to be Gary Haigh, who will be promoted from an internal position in the company.

He will replace Stacey Clark who is leaving the company (MW February 8) to join a marketing consultancy with his old colleague, and former Pepsi Cola marketing director northern Europe, Chris Radford.

As well as Clark, Haigh follows in the footsteps of Peter Maslen, who joined from Pizza Hut International in November 1994. Pizza Hut says Maslen was on secondment from PepsiCo Restaurants International. He had stepped in to replace Dixons product director Paula Vennells who first accepted, then turned down, the job. Prior to Maslen’s appointment, the job was held by Steve Dunn who left in April 1994 to join phone company Mercury.

Pizza Hut had already decided against going outside the company for a new marketing director when Clark resigned. It appears to believe home grown talent is most suitable for the task.

Clark’s departure and now Haigh’s appointment mark the latest in a series of managment moves at the company. Jon Prinsell took over as president and chief executive officer for Pizza Hut in the UK last month, replacing Jay Willoughby who returned to the US to join Pizza Hut US in a senior operations role.

Pizza Hut is jointly run by PepsiCo and Whitbread in the UK, while PepsiCo alone owns the rights to the brand worldwide.