Milind Pant joins Yum! Restaurants as CMO

Pant, who was earlier at Unilever, will be responsible for all of Yum!’s marketing, branding and brand public relations activities in the Indian subcontinent

Milind Pant has joined Yum! Restaurants International as its chief marketing officer for the Indian subcontinent. Before joining Yum!, Pant was responsible for business and brand results at Unilever as vice-president, savoury, for Africa, West Asia and Turkey, and was based in Durban, South Africa.

At Yum!, he will be responsible for all marketing, branding and brand public relations activities in the Indian subcontinent. Pant brings to Yum! more than 15 years of experience in leadership roles across general management, marketing and customer management.

Pant says, “Yum! is known for its strong international equity and commitment to the markets in which it operates. I have always appreciated the innovations and strengths of each of its brands globally. I look forward to playing an integral role in the growth and development of our brands in India.”

At Unilever, Pant also headed the business growth in the East Indian market and was instrumental in turning around the ice cream business and developing Walls as a brand.

For the record, Yum Brands Inc. is headquartered at Louisville, Kentucky, and has its presence in more than 100 countries and territories. Five of the company’s restaurant brands – KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, All American Restaurants and Long John Silver’s – are popular names in the chicken, pizza, Mexican style food and quick service seafood categories, respectively.

Yum! has two of its leading brands in India – KFC (1995) and Pizza Hut (1996).