Julio A. Ramirez, WAM'99
President
Latin America and the Caribbean Regions
Burger King Corporation
Panelist: The Hispanic Market
Professional Experience
Burger King Corporation, Miami, Florida
2/02 to Present President and General Manager of Latin America, Mexico and Caribbean Division
Responsible for franchise operations in 24 countries in Latin America and Caribbean. Manage full business units including Operations, Finance, Development, Franchising, Marketing, Human Resources, Purchasing, Distribution and Quality Assurance teams.
Develop and run high performing Company restaurants based in Mexico City with over 20% ROP.
6/01 to 1/02 Senior Vice President – North America Franchise Operations
Responsible for all franchise operations in approximately 7,500 franchise restaurants in USA and both franchise (220 restaurants) and Company (120 restaurants) in Canada. Full P&L responsibility with over 200 field employees spread out throughout USA and Canada with offices in Miami and Toronto.
2/00 to 5/01 Senior Vice President – USA Franchise Operations and Development
Responsible for all franchise operations, training and development in USA with over 250 field employees throughout USA. Refocused operations to spend more time in restaurant and less administrative time. Improved results from 16th in overall QSR drive-thru service to 6th overall, and from 7th in QSR speed to 2nd in speed, ahead of McDonald's.
8/97 – 1/00 President and General Manager of Latin America, Mexico and Caribbean Division
Responsible for franchise operations in 24 countries in Latin America and Caribbean. Managed full business units including Operations, Finance, Development, Franchising, Marketing, Human Resources, Purchasing, Distribution and Quality Assurance teams. Exceeded profit plans 4 consecutive years. Built high performance team recognized by 3 CEO's: Jim Adamson, Bob Lowes and Dennis Malamatinas. Developed and ran high performing Company restaurants based in Mexico City with over 20% ROP. First country outside USA to roll out new signage.
8/94 – 7/97 Vice President/General Manager of Latin America, Mexico and Caribbean Division
Responsible for franchise operations in 24 countries in Latin America. Managed business unit leading all functional disciplines and successfully turned around a business losing money into a very profitable one. Successfully opened Burger King in Chile, Peru, Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Paraguay. Built a successful team that was used as training ground and springboard for executives to help us in other parts of the world. Met and/or exceeded profit and development plan in each year.
1/93 – 7/94 Director of USA Field Marketing
Successfully led USA Field Marketing team in turnaround of USA business. Key member of “Back to Basics” marketing strategy team that obtained +6% comparable sales growth in 1994. Developed system of tracking investment spending and successfully led marketing team in attaining highest level of investment up to that time ($12 Million). Developed and managed arsenal of local programs/promotions for use by field.
11/91 – 12/92 Marketing Director – Southeast USA
Responsible for Regional/ADI Marketing Programs for over 30 ADI's Southeast USA. Exceeded sales/profit plan for 1992.
8/90 – 10/91 Franchise Sales & Service Manager – Miami/Tampa, FL
Franchise support for 20 franchisees in Miami and Tampa/Ft. Myers, FL handling operations, marketing and development. Developed business plan format used by all FSSM's in USA. I was recognized with Special Bonus due to outstanding effort in managing vendor area in 1991 BKC Franchise Convention in Orlando, FL. – the biggest assembly of vendors (263 vendors to date), for a single FFHR company.
12/89 - 7/90 Marketing Director – Southeast USA Division – Miami, FL
Directed Regional/ADI Marketing programs and promotions for 11 states in Southeast USA. Developed situation analysis/business plan format for marketing plans.
4/87 – 11/89 Regional Marketing Director - Florida Region – Miami Lakes, FL
Successfully led marketing efforts in Florida Region in attaining region profit plan 2 years in a row. Managed both company/franchise marketing in 8 Florida ADI's with $7 Million budget. Developed competitive plans vs. Checkers, D'Lites and Hardee's. Successfully rolled out several innovative marketing promotions (i.e. “Say Cheese” Mini-cameras and Sports Watches). Region was 2 out of 12 regions comp. Sales in 1988, and 3 our of 12 in 1989.
7/84 - 3/87 Area Marketing Manager – Florida
Responsible for market-wide advertising programs, sales promotion and sales analysis for the Miami/West Palm Beach/Ft. Myers and Jacksonville markets. Prepared down-restaurant marketing plans and coordinated execution of plans with Operations Departments. Established great working relationships with over 40 Florida franchise owners.
AT&T Information Systems, Miami, Florida
1984 Assistant Manager – Business Sales & Service Center – Line Supervisor of Service
Representatives
Responsible for telephone system sales and referrals, order negotiation and servicing of commercial accounts.
Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. – Miami, Florida
1978 – 1983 Implementer – Centralized Operations Group – Business Service Department
Coordinated and implemented Southern Bell Facility Work requested by telephone system vendors of non-Bell terminal equipment.
Assistant Manager – Demand Sales Center – Line Supervisor of Service Representatives
Responsible for telephone sales, order negotiations and servicing of commercial accounts.
Assistant Staff Manager – Financial Planning & Performance Group – Business Department
Budget Manager responsible for planning, preparation and tracking of various budgets and forecasts, e.g., expense, revenue and force for Sales Division, and capital expenditures (furniture & fixtures, work equipment and motor vehicles). Also responsible for departmental Six Year Plans and many special projects. One such project consisted of the preparation of several volumes consolidating existing financial and human resource data from the various groups forming the newly established Business Department (e.g. Marketing, Commercial, Plant, Engineering, Traffic).
Miami-Dade Community College – Miami, Florida
1979 – 1980 Marketing instructor in Bilingual Program – Taught “Principles of Marketing” using case study approach, with emphasis on international marketing.
Xerox Corporation, Coral Gables, Florida
1977 – 1978 Sales Representative in Copier Division
Main responsibilities included selling new business copiers, duplicators and supply products. Consistently ranked above average in sales performance.
E. & J. Gallo Winery, Athens, Georgia
1976 Campus Sales Representative in College Marketing Program
Responsible for stimulating sales of Gallo wine to campus organization by sales promotion, advertising and merchandising.
Education
Fall 1999 Wharton School of Business, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Advanced Management Program (48 executives)
1975 – 1977 University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
M.B.A. Business Administration, GPA 3.5/4.0
