McDonald's hires first vice president for digital

McDonald’s Corp. has hired its first vice president for digital. Julia Vander Ploeg will report to Atif Rafiq, the fast-food chain’s chief digital officer.

“You’ve all heard on recent earnings calls how we’re accelerating our digital presence to elevate our business and Brand,” McDonald’s said in a statement to Advertising Age. Vander Ploeg “is a seasoned digital executive with vast leadership experience in both the digital and high-tech world.”

Rafiq, a former executive at Amazon and Yahoo, took over the newly created role of chief digital officer in October. Since then, he’s opened an office in San Francisco to recruit people from Silicon Valley for digital marketing, media and design jobs.

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