Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill has promoted Ilene Eskenazi to chief legal officer, replacing Roger Theodoredis in the role.
Eskenazi was previously the company’s chief human resources officer; she will now combine the two roles. She brings extensive legal and compliance experience, having also held several legal head roles at consumer brand companies.
Newport Beach-based Chipotle has more than 3,900 restaurants in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and the Middle East, employing more than 130,000 people.
Scott Boatwright, Chipotle’s CEO, said: “Ilene is a valued member of our executive leadership team, and her perspective has been instrumental over the years. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with Ilene and our exceptional team as we hire top talent and invest in our people to deliver on our growth strategy and take Chipotle to the next level.”
Eskenazi has been Chipotle’s chief human resources officer since 2023, having previously held a combined chief legal officer and chief human resources officer role at Petco for just over three years. She was also previously general counsel at Boardriders (formerly known as Quicksilver), CLO at True Religion Brand Jeans and GC at Red Bull North America.
She started her legal career in private practice as a corporate associate at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
Theodoredis, meanwhile, exits after seven years with Chipotle. He was previously general secretary at Danone’s North American business, having been GC at WhiteWave Foods, which merged with Danone in 2017.
Boatwright thanked Theodoredis for his contributions and leadership during his time at Chipotle, adding: “Roger has been a trusted advisor to our leadership team and board of directors.”
Earlier this week, rival Mexican food restaurant QDOBA hired ex-KFC legal head Cathy Tang as chief legal officer, filling the seat left empty by the departure of Charles ‘Chip’ Seigel to US ice hockey team Vegas Golden Knights in 2021.
Last October, Starbucks ended its hunt for its new legal chief, hiring Pilar Ramos from Televisa-Univision after previous CLO Brad Lerman announced plans to retire earlier in the year.
And in March last year, Domino’s Pizza promoted assistant GC Ryan Mulally to the GC role, replacing Kevin Morris.
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