Cousins Subs, a family owned, fast casual sub shop, announced the transition of three members of its corporate support team into new roles to build on the company’s legacy of better – J.J. Grube steps into the position of Vice President of Operations & Finance, Alan Lundeen assumes the title of Sr. Director of Talent Management and Hilary Krekling is promoted to Director of Operations.
“As we prepare for broader Midwest expansion and continue to increase our corporate store count, it’s critical to our company’s success to ensure we have the right employees in the right seats to propel our brand forward,” says Christine Specht, CEO of Cousins Subs. “We truly believe each of our three employee transitions will make it better for our restaurant teams, corporate staff, franchise partners and community and position the brand for even more opportunities for growth.”
J.J. Grube assumes the role of Vice President of Operations & Finance after serving as Vice President of Finance and Director of Finance for nearly 3.5 years. While he has spent his nearly 16-year professional career in finance, Grube is a true operations leader at heart. In his new role, he is responsible for driving efficiencies and standardization to help corporate restaurant general managers and franchise partners run their stores more efficiently. In addition, he will hold the lead operations position on the company’s menu development team.
Alan Lundeen steps into the brand’s first people-dedicated leadership role. As Sr. Director of Talent Management, he oversees the company’s training, human resources and recruitment functions, while responsible for staffing, bench planning, training and attending to all personnel related matters at every step of the corporate employee lifecycle. He is also responsible for introducing company-wide initiatives to further enhance company diversity and inclusion efforts, culture and staffing. Lundeen is an accredited professional with more than 12 years of HR experience.
Hilary Krekling is promoted to the role of Director of Operations after serving as a Corporate Area Director for more than five years. Her leadership and development skills blossomed while serving in her prior role as she managed stores with the highest sales volumes, most employees and best profit margins in the company. As Director of Operations, she will lead the team of four Corporate Area Directors and continue to guide two corporate restaurants in their pursuit of operational excellence. Hilary has more than 12 years of experience leading Cousins Subs’ restaurant teams to success.
