It's fitting that Wendy's Chief Development Officer and President, International, Abigail E. Pringle, grew up on a cattle farm in Maine because, in a manner of speaking, her fingerprints are all over the hometown favorite hamburger chain.
A high-energy leader, she began her career at Wendy’s in 2002, serving as Director of Strategic Initiatives and Planning for over six years. Since then, she's held a host of leadership roles at the company.
In particular, Pringle helped overhaul a tired brand and franchise system by leading more than $2 billion in franchise merger and acquisition transactions. During her long tenure, she's been responsible for a wide range of initiatives to reinvigorate the Wendy's brand, including: restaurant design, real estate, construction, franchise development, uniform redesigns, and even logo redesigns, among others. These changes, particularly the remodeling and building of restaurants, have driven significant sales and increased brand relevance among millennial consumers.
In June 2019, Pringle's dedication was rewarded with another promotion: President, International and Chief Development Officer — the latter being a newly created roll as part of the fast-food chain’s long-term growth plans.
Today, as a senior leadership team member, Pringle leads all aspects of Wendy's international business and is responsible for all restaurant and franchise development around the world. This includes being responsible globally for design, construction, real estate planning, and portfolio management, as well as franchise recruiting and development. She also has profit-and-loss and general management responsibility for the international business that operates nearly 1,000 restaurants across 30 countries and territories.
Prior to Wendy’s, Pringle spent six years at Accenture, where she served as a consultant in the areas of process reengineering, systems implementations, organizational design, and change management.
She also has a long history of giving back to her community and currently is the executive sponsor of Women of Wendy’s, an employee resource group focused on developing and empowering female leaders. Outside of Wendy’s, she Pringle serves on the board of directors and the executive committee of the Columbus, Ohio Chamber of Commerce, for which she previously chaired the strategy committee. Additionally, she serves on the advisory boards of Dupler Office (a privately held company) and Denison University, her alma mater.