Papa Johns names interim CFO amid leadership shake-up
Papa Johns tapped veteran finance leader Chris Collins as interim CFO as Ravi Thanawala exits, while 300 North American store closures and weak sales keep the turnaround under strain.
Papa Johns named Chris Collins interim chief financial officer after Ravi Thanawala is leaving for a CFO job at another public company. Thanawala will remain available in an advisory capacity through July 31, 2026, and Papa Johns has started a search for a permanent CFO.
Collins is not new to the job. He joined Papa Johns in April 2021, served as interim CFO from March 2023 to July 2023, and was named senior vice president of corporate finance and principal accounting officer in July 2025 after a prior stint as vice president of finance for treasury, tax and the international business segment. Collins has more than 30 years of finance experience.
The leadership change also comes as Papa Johns shifts more operational responsibility under Marc Richard, who was appointed to the company’s executive leadership team in June 2026 and has served as senior vice president of North America operations since June 2025. Richard has taken on responsibility for all North America operations, including duties Thanawala had also held as president, while Todd Penegor has been president and CEO since August 2024 after moving from Wendy’s.
In the first quarter of 2026, Papa Johns posted global system-wide restaurant sales of $1.20 billion, down 3% from a year earlier. North America comparable sales fell 6.4%, international comparable sales rose 3.6%, and the company opened 28 restaurants system-wide, including 8 in North America and 20 internationally. Papa Johns ended the quarter with 6,020 restaurants across 50 countries and territories, down from 6,083 at the end of fiscal 2025, when it had 475 company-owned restaurants and 5,608 franchised locations.
Papa Johns expects North America comparable sales to fall 2% to 4%, international comparable sales to rise 2% to 4% and adjusted EBITDA to land between $200 million and $210 million in 2026. The company plans to close 300 underperforming North American restaurants by the end of 2027, with two-thirds of those closures expected in 2026. The stores targeted for closure do not meet brand expectations or lack a path to financial improvement.
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