Yum! Brands, Inc. today announced the appointment of Michael Liewen, 50, to vice president of quality assurance, a newly created position reporting to Greg Creed, the company’s chief operating officer.

Since 1989 he has worked at General Mills in various leadership positions, most recently as director of quality and regulatory operations for their Meals Division, where he led a $2.2 billion business unit and was responsible for all aspects of quality assurance, food safety, and regulatory compliance for six company-owned manufacturing locations, contract operations, corporate staff, and programs. While there, he optimized the company’s effectiveness, created greater consistency and productivity in plant operations and increased consumer satisfaction.

At Yum! Brands, he will work in partnership with the restaurant division chief food innovation officers (CFIOs) and their teams to ensure food quality, safety, and regulatory compliance for Yum’s worldwide operations.

In addition, he will lead the Yum! Brands Food Standards Council. The council identifies global resources, internal and external, to review Yum’s Food Safety Standards, ensure compliance and shares best practices.

“Michael is a highly respected and accomplished food industry professional with 20 years of diverse management and technical experience,” said Greg Creed, chief operating officer for Yum! Brands, Inc. “He brings tremendous leadership, strategic thinking and a proven track record of success to our organization. We are extremely fortunate to have someone of his caliber in this key role,” added Creed.

During his tenure at General Mills, Liewen served as director of quality and regulatory operations for refrigerated products and foodservice from April 1997 until October 2001. Prior to that he held positions including regional manager of quality and regulator operations for the Gold Medal Division; senior quality engineer for cereal and dry mix operations, and start-up director and manager of microbiology and nutrition analysis. He is a recipient of the Chairman’s Award, General Mill’s highest honor for groundbreaking innovation and productivity.

Liewen is a Certified Quality Engineer from the American Society for Quality and received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin. He is active in professional organizations and serves on the board of directors of the American Frozen Food Institute.

He will begin working at Yum! Brands on June 5, 2006.