Jose-Luis Bretones
Jose-Luis was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. Graduated with a MS/BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ETSII). He joined AT&T Bell Labs in 1991, to start his career optimizing manufacturing processes and continued in the telecommunications industry progressing through several European roles in the global supply chain and manufacturing operations arena. In 1998, was appointed EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) Lead to a global supply chain reengineering team, and relocated to Oklahoma City, OK where Lucent Technologies headquartered its Switching business unit. During this assignment, he earned his MBA degree.
He left Lucent-Bell Labs in 2002 to join McDonald’s APMEA (Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa) and moved to Chicago, IL where McDonald's is globally headquartered. In his first role at McD, Jose-Luis spent most of his time traveling throughout the region for almost six years as regional lead for Strategic Planning, Program and Project Management. During his tenure, the APMEA region delivered innovative initiatives like 24Hrs (Hong Kong), Delivery (Egypt) and McCafé (Australia). In 2008, he was internally recruited to revitalize the global sourcing strategy for beef and pork (~$4B in annual spend), and to lead the sustainability and animal welfare strategy (for all protein-based products) as Director Global Supply Chain Strategy.
In late 2012, Jose-Luis leaves McD to join A.M.Castle as EVP Strategic Sourcing Supply Chain and executive Officer. A $1B publicly-traded company operating in Industrial Metals, Aerospace and Oil & Gas. He was accountable to the Board of Directors and the CEO for redesigning the global supply chain manufacturing and distribution operations.
In 2015, he founded in 2015 a boutique global consulting firm LINAR Advisors that he currently leads as Managing Partner.
Jose-Luis is often retained to serve at the Board level, including the following organizations:
- University of Loyola. Business Leadership Hub. Center for Risk Management. Board of Advisors.
- Griffith Foods. Independent Director. A family owned global developer and manufacturer of customized food ingredients.
- Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB): Founding member and director, representing McD and partnering with WWF, Walmart, Cargill among other industry leaders, to drive impactful changes in the way cattle is raised around the world.
- USEC (US-Spain Executives Community). Board or directors and Treasurer.
- Roycemore School. Trustee, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Chair for the Finance Committee.
Jose-Luis has earned numerous professional accreditations from Kellogg School of Management (USA), INSEAD School of Management (France), Goldratt Institute (Spain), and APICS; and has been quoted and profiled as a thought leader and supply chain expert in several publications:
• Strategic Supply Chain Management: The Five Core Disciplines for Top Performance, 2nd Edition (By Shoshanah Cohen, McGraw-Hill 2013)
• Leadership without Excuses: How to Create Performance and High Accountability (Instead of Just Talking about It) (By Jeff Grimshaw, McGraw-Hill, 2010)
• Vested Outsourcing: five rules that will transform outsourcing. (By Kate Vitasec, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)
Jose-Luis currently lives in Evanston, IL with Lisa and their two daughters.