Brands
Who is Merrill Pereyra the new CEO of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises?
MUMBAI: If you ordered a pizza from Domino’s Australia this month, there’s a new captain steering the ship. Meet Merrill Pereyra, the freshly minted CEO for Australia and New Zealand, now responsible for over 880 stores across both nations.
So who exactly is this man trusted with Domino’s largest and most foundational markets?
Picture a fast food veteran who has spent three decades criss-crossing continents, fixing broken brands and building empires from scratch. That’s Pereyra in a nutshell.
His resume reads like a world tour of quick service restaurants. Most recently, he spent five years as managing director of Pizza Hut across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives. Before that, he ran the show at QSR Brands, commanding 1,200 Pizza Hut and KFC stores across Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Brunei with 30,000 staff.
But here’s where it gets interesting: Pereyra already knows Domino’s intimately. Between 2013 and 2016, he rescued the struggling Indonesian operation, growing it from 42 underperforming stores to 80 profitable outlets. He flipped store Ebitda from negative 2 per cent to positive 6 per cent, built a state-of-the-art commissary in seven months, and even orchestrated a merger with private equity firm Everstone Capital.
The Australia connection runs deeper still. From 2011 to 2013, Pereyra led Healthy Habits, Australia’s top sandwich bar chain, driving nationwide expansion.
Yet the bedrock of his expertise comes from 23 years with McDonald’s. Starting as a trainee manager in Australia, he climbed to regional manager for South East Asia, opening restaurants in Saudi Arabia and conducting feasibility studies across Pacific islands. He literally wrote the book on brand expansion, authoring “Expand Your Brand: How to Supersize Any Brand, Anywhere in the World.”
His academic credentials are equally impressive: executive programmes at Wharton, Harvard Business School, Insead and Thunderbird School of Global Management.
What drives him? Pereyra describes his leadership as grounded in “humility, clarity and purpose,” with people at the centre. He emphasises supporting franchise partners, developing leaders and fostering cultures built on safety, trust and continuous improvement.
For Domino’s, the choice is clear. They’ve picked a proven turnaround specialist who understands franchise operations, knows how to scale profitably, and has already delivered results for the brand once before. In a fiercely competitive Australian pizza market, Merrill Pereyra might just be the secret ingredient Domino’s has been looking for.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
