Whitney McGinnis is CIO and Vice President of McDonald’s USA. She is responsible for leading the U.S. Technology organization in the development, integration, deployment and support for technology across 14,000 restaurants, including point of sale, kiosk, digital menu boards, mobile, back office, HR and training applications. In her role, Whitney partners closely with the McDonald’s senior leadership team and McDonald’s franchise owner/operators to bring McDonald’s technology strategy to life, driving improved experiences for customers and restaurants.
Whitney’s McDonald’s career started in 2004 and she has more than 20 years of experience in technology. She has led many critical initiatives for McDonald’s with a focus on innovation, strategy and large-scale application development. Prior to joining the U.S. Technology organization, Whitney led Technology Innovation and Engineering for McDonald’s Point of Sale and Menu Systems globally.
Outside of her day-to-day responsibilities, Whitney is a strong advocate for increasing diversity in technology and most recently helped launch McDonald’s Global Women in Technology organization.
Below hear from Whitney explaining why, if you want to work in tech, McDonald's is the place to be.
If you want to work in tech, McDonald’s is the place to be
I’ve worked in various technology roles at McDonald’s for 20 years. The changes in those 20 years have been staggering. When my career started, technology in restaurants was minimal. When you walk into a restaurant today, there isn’t a system that isn’t driven by technology – from Kiosks and Digital Menu Boards to kitchen operations.
I’d love to share a few of my favorite things about working in technology at McDonald’s.
An exciting time to be in tech at McDonald's
1. At McDonald’s, we do technology on a scale that’s unparalleled.
Look no further than the recent launch of our new loyalty program in the U.S., MyMcDonald’s Rewards. When you think about how big our System is – and how our loyalty program needs to work for tens of millions of customers at nearly 14,000 restaurants across the United States, every single day – you can get a sense of the scale that our teams tackle on a regular basis.
2. We are better together. Of course, we didn’t build this alone.
Developing our loyalty program would have been impossible without the help of McDonald’s technology teams around the globe, as well as U.S. Owner/Operators, who we are lucky to work with on many tech projects year-round. In this case, Owner/Operators helped us pilot MyMcDonald’s Rewards in test markets for months, allowing us to understand how our customers and crew were using the program, what bugs we needed to fix, and more. As always, it was amazing to watch so many different people come together to create something at the scale of MyMcDonald’s Rewards. I feel incredibly proud of our loyalty program, and I know the rest of our team does, too.
3. Working in technology at McDonald’s is endlessly interesting.
Our teams are able to take complex business challenges and use technology to solve them. More often than not, our work shows up in restaurants, where our families and friends can experience it for themselves. (The feedback from my kids on MyMcDonald’s Rewards has been nothing but positive). This usually isn’t the case if you work for a tech giant, where you may or may not be solving real business problems, and you may or may not ever see your work come to life.
Empowered and passionate employees working on technology
This is an exciting time to be in tech, and I'm so proud of the culture we’ve created on our technology teams over the past few years. Our department is filled with people who are empowered, passionate and work together to solve issues head-on. Best of all, I know everybody has my back, and I have theirs.
At McDonald’s, our technology teams directly impact millions of people every day – and truthfully, through platforms like our app, we’re helping millions of customers get more comfortable using technology. I can’t think of a better place to be.
What are you waiting for? Come join us.
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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.