GODIVA Chocolatier has named Brent Franks as its first chief operating officer.

Franks brings over three decades of proven results in driving global growth, leading the complex operations of large, publicly traded companies, including one of the biggest food and beverage businesses in the world. 

In this newly created role, Franks will be responsible for advancing operational excellence for GODIVA across every global market. He will play an instrumental part in driving unified growth as the company continues to expand beyond formal gifting into new channels and categories.

GODIVA CEO Annie Young-Scrivner created the COO role as part of her vision for unlocking fivefold growth for the business worldwide. Franks is now the ninth member of GODIVA's Executive Committee to be appointed by Young-Scrivner since she became CEO in 2017.

"GODIVA is at a pivotal point where the role of COO is necessary to ensure that operational excellence will scale at the same pace as our aspirations for global business growth," Young-Scrivner said. "Brent is a proven leader who brings a combination of operational expertise, outstanding customer service and inspirational leadership to the COO role. I look forward to realizing the full potential that Brent's impressive experience represents for our business as we continue to make our brand more accessible through our GODIVA Cafés and the expansion of our consumer packaged goods business."

Franks joins GODIVA from Aramark, a $16 billion global company with 280,000 employees, where he served as COO, international. During his seven years with the company, his leadership helped accelerate the company's growth and delivered exceptional service to clients and customers.

Prior to that, Franks had a successful 29-year career with Pepsi Bottling Co., which included serving as president of Pepsi Mexico with 23,000 employees. In that role, he led the turnaround efforts for the country's sales, manufacturing and distribution business. He also served as SVP of global sales and chief customer officer, where business operations accounted for $14 billion in revenue.

"I've long respected Annie with her vision and capabilities to successfully lead beloved brands through their next stage of evolution, so the opportunity to become a part of GODIVA is incredibly exciting for me personally and professionally,” Franks said. “Even more thrilling is knowing that as GODIVA's first COO, I will play an important role alongside my fellow Executive Committee members, and the thousands of chocolatiers worldwide, in continuing to open people's eyes to a more wonderful world."