Inspire Brands Completes Acquisition of Jimmy John’s

Nils H. Okeson serves as General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of Inspire Brands, a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 32,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC Drive-In restaurants worldwide.

Okeson oversees the legal, corporate secretary, risk management, lease management, and administrative services functions for Inspire and its brands.

Prior to Inspire, Okeson was General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc.

Okeson joined Arby’s as General Counsel in 2005 and became General Counsel of Arby’s former parent corporation, Triarc Companies in 2007. In these roles, he helped lead the organization through a number of significant M&A and financing transactions as Triarc evolved into a pure play restaurant company eventually combining with Wendy’s International, Inc. to form Wendy’s/Arby’s Group in 2008. At Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Okeson served as General Counsel of the parent company and each of the Arby’s and Wendy’s operating companies. Following Roark Capital Group’s acquisition of Arby’s in 2011, Okeson remained with Arby’s as General Counsel while assuming additional senior management responsibilities.

Previously, Okeson was a partner at Alston & Bird LLP in Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent 15 years specializing in corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, securities regulation, and corporate finance. While at Alston & Bird, Okeson co-chaired the firm’s securities and corporate governance practice quality teams.

He was listed in Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America, and Georgia Super Lawyers. Okeson is a past member of the Advisory Board of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. In 2005, he was named a Georgia Rising Star in Atlanta magazine and Georgia Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition. Okeson was named Outstanding General Counsel in 2015 and Dealmaker of the Year in 2019 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Georgia chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Okeson is an alumnus of the University of Virginia where he received a Bachelor of Arts, with distinction, majoring in economics and minoring in mathematics. He also received a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Claudia San Pedro serves as Head of the Limited Service Category and President of SONIC Drive-In, part of the Inspire family of restaurants. Inspire is a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 32,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC Drive-In restaurants worldwide.

San Pedro sets the strategic direction for SONIC and is responsible for overseeing the brand’s marketing and operations teams as well as the brand’s relationship with its franchise community.

San Pedro assumed her role in January 2018. She joined SONIC in 2006 as vice president of investor relations and treasurer before being promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer in 2015. In her previous roles, San Pedro was responsible for SONIC's financial planning practices, as well as the brand's relationship with lending institutions, shareholders, and the financial community.

Prior to joining SONIC, she served as the director for the Oklahoma Office of State Finance (OSF). Appointed by Governor Brad Henry in 2005, San Pedro was the first female and first Hispanic to serve as director of state finance for Oklahoma.

Before joining OSF and the Henry administration, San Pedro served as the assistant director of the Oklahoma State Senate fiscal staff and a staff budget analyst for the senate appropriations subcommittees on education, human services, and general government.

For her leadership, San Pedro was named the 2022 Restaurant Leader of the Year by the editors of Restaurant Business. She was also included on the HERoes Women Executive Role Model List 2021, powered by Yahoo! Finance; honored as part of Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2021 Power List: Women of Influence; named one of LATINA Style’s 2020 Corporate Executives of the Year; and featured on Entrepreneur’s 100 Powerful Women 2020 list.

San Pedro presently serves on the board of Directors of the International Franchise Association, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, BOK Financial, and the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools. She also serves on the University of Oklahoma Price College of Business Board of Advisors and the Smith College Board of Trustees.

San Pedro holds an undergraduate degree from Smith College in Massachusetts and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma.

Born in Mexico City, San Pedro resides in Oklahoma City with her family.

Paul Brown serves as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Inspire Brands, a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 32,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC Drive-In restaurants worldwide. Inspire is supported by more than 650,000 company and franchise team members. In 2022, its brands achieved over $31 billion in global system sales, making Inspire the second largest restaurant company in the United States.

Prior to founding Inspire, Brown was Chief Executive Officer of Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc.

Arby’s turnaround “can be attributed to Brown’s vision and leadership,” according to Fortune. As CEO, he launched several transformative initiatives across the brand’s global system with a focus on innovation, including: introducing a new brand purpose, Inspiring Smiles Through Delicious Experiences®; unveiling a visionary restaurant design that increases energy efficiency; launching a team member training program that is centered on goal setting; and fostering a unique approach to product development that reinforces the brand’s We Have The Meats® marketing.

Prior to Arby’s, Brown served as President of Brands and Commercial Services of Hilton Worldwide. The global hospitality company is comprised of ten brands including Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, and Home2 Suites by Hilton. Brown was the company’s global leader for brand management, product standards, marketing, sales, pricing, e-Commerce, loyalty programs, franchise relations, and information technology.

Brown also previously served with Expedia, Inc., the world’s leading online travel company, as President of Expedia.com and Expedia’s Partner Services Group. Prior to Expedia, Brown was a partner at the McKinsey & Company. Based in London, he was a leader of the firm’s global travel and hospitality practice and served clients across the travel, hospitality, and retail sectors. Brown has worked with InterContinental Hotels Group as Senior Vice President of Global Brand Services and was responsible for global sales, reservations, the Priority Club loyalty program, e-Commerce, and purchasing. He was also a Manager for The Boston Consulting Group in the firm’s Chicago and Atlanta offices.

For his leadership, Brown was named by Business Insider in 2019 as one of the 10 People Transforming Retail. He was also named the 2018 Norman Award recipient by Nation’s Restaurant News, a 2018 Silver Plate honoree by IFMA, the 2017 Restaurant Leader of the Year by Restaurant Business, and a 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year in Retail and Consumer Products in the Southeast by EY. In 2020, Brown became a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council.

Brown is chairman of the board of directors of Neiman Marcus Group and a member of the board of directors of FOCUS Brands, Inc. He is also active in the community, serving on the boards of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Georgia Tech Foundation, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee.

Brown is an alumnus of Georgia Tech where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in management. He also received an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Master of Engineering Management from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is currently a Fellow with the Culinary Institute of America and has served as an executive-in-residence at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.