Papa John’s announced today the appointment of Marvin Boakye as its first Chief People Officer. He will serve as a member of the Papa John’s Executive Leadership Team and report to president and CEO Steve Ritchie.

Boakye has more than 20 years of human resources experience, as well as expertise in change management and culture transformation. He has held human resources leadership roles for organizations across the United States, Canada and Latin America. Boakye joins Papa John’s after serving as vice president of human resources at petroleum company Andeavor in San Antonio, Texas, which was recently acquired by Marathon Petroleum. Prior to Andeavor, he was chief human resources officer for MTS Allstream, a telecommunications company now part of Bell Canada, and held senior human resources positions at Goodyear, Pulte Group and The Home Depot.

“Boakye’s expertise will help us to continue to push Papa John’s forward in our transformation to become a better place to work for our 120,000 corporate and franchise team members,” says Papa John’s president and CEO Steve Ritchie. “In our search for a Chief People Officer, our goal was to identify a proven talent development leader with expertise in driving organizational change. Boakye’s impressive background will be an important asset to Papa John’s growth strategy, especially as we continue to focus on our business outside of North America.”

Boakye will play a critical leadership role in implementing the company’s talent management strategy, which includes overseeing people operations; compensation and benefits; and learning and development. He replaces senior vice president of People Operations Bob Smith, who retired from Papa John’s in August 2018 after serving 15 years with the company.