Shawn Kerr bites into new role at Burger Urge Industry veteran Shawn Kerr has been appointed CEO of Burger Urge, bringing his 32 years’ experience to some of the world’s most successful retail food companies to the chain’s expansion plans. Kerr has held senior management roles across the quick service retail, fast casual and franchising sectors at McDonald’s Australia and Coco-Cola Amatil, and most recently introduced Zambrero, Carl’s Jr and Cinnabon to the Australian market in leaders
eadership start-up roles.
Burger Urge was founded by bothers Sean and Colby Carthew in 2007 with a single shopfront in Brunswick Street in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm, and currently operates 29 restaurants in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory, including two new sites in Cairns and Darwin.
Kerr’s appointment will allow co-founder Sean Carthew to step back from a management role to focus on strategic growth. The company has its sights set on reaching $100 million in international business within the next five years.
Kerr said he was attracted to the company’s vision: “Sean and Colby Carthew are less concerned about growth and bottom line and more interested in making a positive contribution to the world, which is very appealing to me and a vision I can really get behind and help drive forward,” he said.
Booktopia strengthens team
Australian e-commerce group Booktopia has completed four senior appointments.
Wayne Baskin will become executive director, Geoff Stalley CFO and Marina Go and Fiona Pak-Poy independent non-executive directors.
Booktopia, which celebrated its 16th birthday this year, is the country’s largest vertically integrated Australian-owned book retailer, selling more than 6.4 million books in FY20 with an average 25,000 items shipped per day.
Baskin is Booktopia’s deputy CEO and chief technology officer and, according to founder and CEO Tony Nash, has helped build the company to what it is today.
Stalley was previously chief growth officer for Serco Asia Pacific, a global public sector services business. He has previously held senior positions with Deloitte Australia and Ernst & Young.
Pak-Poy holds extensive director experience across a range of industries with a particular focus on entrepreneurship and start-ups. She currently serves as an independent non-executive director for Tyro Payments, iSentia and Novotech, a leading Asia-Pacific clinical research organisation. She is also on the board of the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship.
Go is chair of Ovarian Cancer Australia, a non-executive director of Energy Australia, Autosports Group, 7-Eleven, Pro-Pac, and The Walkley Foundation, Chair of the Advisory Board for the Centre For Media Transition at the University of Technology Sydney, a director of PWC’s Diversity Advisory Board, and author of the business book for women Break Through: 20 Success Strategies for Female Leaders.
