Mod Pizza adds two new C-suite roles

Mod Super Fast Pizza Holdings is expanding it leadership team.

The fast-growing company appointed Stephen Blum as its first chief development officer, tasked with leading all store development activities including real estate, store design, construction, facilities, and portfolio management. Most recently, Blum was senior VP, real estate, and facilities at Hertz Corp.

Prior to joining Hertz in 2016, Blum served in various store development roles at Au Bon Pain, Panda Restaurant Group and Panera Bread.

In other appointments, Mod has promoted  Becky Mulligan to the newly-created position of chief restaurant officer. In her expanded role, she will continue to lead all company stores and operations excellence, while taking on leadership for Mod’s franchise business.

Prior to joining Mod in in 2021 as senior VP, Mulligan was CEO, US, of  Le Pain Quotidien.

Mod also welcomed three additional leaders — including   7-Eleven and Starbucks veterans — promoted a veteran operations leader, all effective immediately.

• Cynthia Richardson has been named VP, franchising. She joins Mod after 25 years at 7-Eleven, where she implemented consulting services to support franchisees in 17 countries, across 77,000-plus stores.  
• Scott Uehlein joined Mod as VP, culinary Excellence and innovation. In this role, he will oversee the Mod culinary team, including all aspects of menu development and innovation. He brings over three decades of industry experience, having most recently served as VP of product innovation and development at Sonic. 
• Ben Coarde has been named regional VP, operations, overseeing the Eastern Region. Coarde previously spent over 14 years with Starbucks, most recently as a regional director responsible for 115 café and drive through locations.
• James Holguin, a seven-year Mod veteran, has been promoted to regional VP, operations, responsible for the Western half of the U.S.

Founded in Seattle in 2008, Mod a purpose-led, people-first fast-casual brand that serves individual artisan-style pizzas and salads that are made on demand, allowing customers to create their own pizzas and salads with any combination of over 40 toppings and sauces, all for one incredible price. It operates more than 500 stores across 29 states and Canada.