McDonald's Canada Appoints Chief Marketing Officer

McDonald’s Canada has announced the appointment of Jennifer DelVecchio as its new Chief Marketing Officer. 

She succeeds Francesca Cardarelli, who held the role for just over a year and is now moving to McDonald’s Headquarters in Chicago, to take on a newly creative role that supports the company’s global marketing function. 

“I couldn't be more excited to lead this iconic brand at such a pivotal moment,” Jennifer says. “I’m joining a talented and passionate McDonald's Canada team, brilliant agency partners and outstanding franchisees to write this next chapter together.

“As we look toward the future, my focus is to ensure our marketing is as innovative as it is creative, and to show up in meaningful, relevant ways for Canadians from coast to coast.”

Marketing leadership experience

Jennifer has spent the past five years working for McDonald’s, first joining the company in 2021 as a Senior Director for Global Brand, Content and Culture. Her most recent role was as Beverages and Desserts Category Lead, where she set the enterprise vision and innovation roadmap for beverage and desserts, including brand and portfolio strategy, product innovation and commercialisation and strategic supplier partnerships.

Before joining McDonald’s, Jennifer spent close to 10 years at Coca-Cola, in a variety of marketing leadership roles across the US and Canada.

She initially joined the company as a Senior Manager for Sport and Entertainment Marketing, where she led Coca-Cola’s sport, entertainment and lifestyle portfolio for the Canada Business Unit. 

As she progressed, her responsibilities spanned strategic marketing partnerships, entertainment marketing, brand tonality and integrated marketing, before taking on a role as Director of Brand Strategy for Smartwater, a top priority brand for the company. 

Taking on the CMO role for McDonald’s Canada marks Jennifer’s first role based in her home country for close to “a decade of Global and US marketing leadership roles,” she said. 

International leadership shakeups

McDonald’s has been shaking up its global marketing leadership team as of late, with the company announcing in early May that Tim Kenward would be taking on the Chief Marketing Officer role for the company’s UK and Ireland operations. 

Tim has spent nearly 15 years at the company, first joining as a Marketing Consultant in Australia, and replaced Ben Fox after around a year in the role.

Most recently, he held the role of Marketing Director for the McDonald’s International Operated Markets Business Unit, which represents McDonald’s wholly-owned, high growth markets out of the US, such as the UK, France and Canada.

Commenting on his appointment, Tim said: “I’m excited to officially share that I’ve stepped into the role of Chief Marketing Officer for McDonald’s UK & Ireland.

“I’ve long admired the creativity and ambition coming out of this market, so to now lead a team where brilliant thinking is part of the everyday is a real privilege.”

He also shared that there are “lots of exciting campaigns in the pipeline already,” for 2026, which will focus on the company’s approach of: “Bringing our famous menu to life, staying culturally relevant and deepening the connection of our brand with our customers.”