BOSTON, June 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Wings, an emerging AI startup developing autonomous businesses for all, today announced the appointment of Jim McDermet as Executive Advisor. McDermet is investing in the company, and will advise in operations and overall strategies, while working with the executive team on expanding Wings’ professional network in current and future markets.
McDermet brings more than 40 years of global experience in services and strategic initiatives. Prior to his current board work and as a trusted advisor, McDermet was a senior leader at Starbucks Coffee Company. His 14-year tenure culminated in his role as Senior Vice President Global Operations where he led global operations strategy and standards enterprise-wide. Earlier, as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Seattle’s Best Coffee (a Starbucks portfolio company), McDermet transitioned the company to new levels of revenue growth and profitability by successfully repositioning the brand in foodservice, national accounts, and CPG space.
Previously as Starbucks Division SVP, McDermet had full responsibility for Starbucks $3 billion revenue and 3,000 store Northeast Atlantic and North Central Divisions where he drove revenue and profit growth while significantly improving customer engagement and reducing employee turnover. Earlier in McDermet’s career he spent over 20 years at Burger King Corporation in a variety of field and headquarters assignments where he gained deep operational expertise supporting both company and franchised restaurants. At Burger King, he led the development of non-traditional and new concept restaurant formats to expand the brand into all areas where customers work, shop, or play.
"Jim fascinated us in his broad knowledge and spectrum of experiences (of more than four decades) from the services industry, notably in foodservice global operations and scale," said Haitham Al-Beik, Co-Founder & CEO of Wings. "Aside from his extensive intellectual capacities, Jim has always maintained a people-first mindset since the beginning of his career, aligning with Wings’ core mission and continuing with us for a more sustainable and hopeful future."
"My entire professional career has been influenced by the two complementary conditions of eliminating non-value added work wherever possible while helping to create meaningful work that fills people’s souls," said McDermet. "Haitham and the team at Wings are approaching this same work in an entirely new and transformational way, and I’m excited to be on this journey with them."
Wings is currently building a next-generation of "HiveRobotics", a collective of decentralized, self-organized systems that work together to deliver food orders directly to every customer—accurately, safely, and timely—with hyper-personalization at the forefront. A HiveRobot is a purpose-built robot operating autonomously or as an extension for any other robot in the collective to perform various time-constrained operations regardless of physical connectivity or proximity.
The founders bring 40+ years of combined experience in Software, Hardware, AI, Industrial, and Robotics Engineering. Their new lab is now open by appointment only for prospective investors, partners, and customers. Learn more at https://wings.business/hiverobotics.
ABOUT WINGS:
Developed with people-first in mind, Wings produces autonomous businesses designed with purpose-built robotics and intuitive end-to-end experiences. Wings offers a real-time platform for intuitive delivery of services without human intervention. To learn more: https://wings.business.
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SOURCE Wings
