Dick Crawford recently retired from McDonalds Corporation as Vice President,
Corporate Government Relations.
There he directed all the corporation's international, federal,
state and local government relations activities. He served as principal
government relations advisor to the Board of Directors, CEO and other
senior managers, providing guidance and representation in domestic and
international matters, developing and coordinating multi-national
strategies, and managing the company’s relationships with multilateral
agencies. Dick co-chaired and oversaw administration of the McDonald's
Federal Political Action Committee. He was promoted to the vice
president position from his former position of Senior Director for
Government Relations.
Dick is a
Foodservice executive with nearly thirty years’ experience in
developing and implementing strategies to shape state, federal and
international government relations issues. His strengths include
identifying prospective opportunities and threats; educating and
engaging internal stakeholders; developing complex strategies based on
analyses of the issues, applicable legislative or regulatory processes
and organizations that could be affected; developing and leveraging
relationships with government policymakers, academic experts, nonprofit
organizations and other influencers; and building and guiding
multi-stakeholder 
coalitions. He
has a proven track record and demonstrated capacity to develop these
strengths in others. He has significant expertise in a range of issues
of interest to the restaurant industry, including food and agriculture,
marketing and advertising, international trade, labor, taxation, zoning
and consumer trust.
While with the
McDonalds Corporation, Dick initiated direct relationships between
corporate executives and senior-level policy-makers and between company
subject-matter experts and their counterparts in government agencies. He established partnerships with
federal agencies to support their consumer health and safety education
programs. One primary example of
this was when he brought representatives of multilateral and national
government agencies, nonprofit organizations, major suppliers and
retailers together at a global summit to develop action plans for
addressing human and animal health risks posed by avian influenza (AI). This secured an OIE (World Animal
Health Organization) standard for cooked poultry products, which both
protects public health and allows for continuous supply of poultry
products from countries affected by AI.
Dick is a
long-time member of the National Restaurant Association and a past
Chairman of National Council of Chain Restaurants. He is also a member of the National
Academy of Sciences Food Forum, the Institute of Food Technologists, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases
Advisory Committee, and the U.S. Department of Commerce/Office of the
International Trade Representative’s International Sector Advisory
Committee for Wholesaling and Retailing. He holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts,
University of Tennessee.
