ORLANDO, FL - Darden announced that Interim CEO Gene Lee Jr. has been voted to permanently take up the post by the Board of Directors. The vote is to be put into effect immediately.

"On behalf of the Board, I want to say how excited we are to have Gene Lee as our CEO,” Jeffrey Smith, Darden’s Non-Executive Chairman, said in a press release. “After conducting a thorough search and reviewing numerous highly qualified candidates, it was clear that Gene was the best candidate and was the Board's unanimous choice.”

Lee brings over 30 years of restaurant experience to the position with a thorough knowledge of the company, having served as President of both the Company's Specialty Restaurant Group (SRG) and Chief Operating Officer of the Company. While at the point of the SRG, Lee helped the group grow from 60 to 175 restaurants while also delivering an annual sales growth of 17 percent. In turn, annual restaurant earnings grew upwards of 26 percent.

"As President and Chief Operating Officer, and then as Interim CEO of Darden, I fully appreciate the possibilities of an improved and reinvigorated Darden,” Lee said in the release. “I am incredibly excited to continue to work with the Board of Directors and to execute our common vision for Darden. I believe Darden has a fantastic future and look forward to continuing to work with Darden's talented employee base in our collective effort to return Darden to the pinnacle of full-service dining."

Now that the company has secured its CEO candidate, it will now turn its focus to finding an ideal candidate to succeed C. Bradford Richmond as Chief Financial Officer when he retires.

Darden Restaurants