ATLANTA – Ralph Bower has been named president-US of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, AFC Enterprises, Inc. announced March 5. AFC is the parent company of Popeyes restaurants.

Bower, who has been chief operations officer of Popeyes since 2008, will lead daily US operations for Popeyes restaurants, according to AFC. He will be responsible for leading strategic initiatives, promoting unit growth and building franchise relationships.

“Ralph is ideally suited to lead our US Popeyes system, said Cheryl Bachelder, chief executive officer of AFC. "He has done an outstanding job as our US chief operating officer and I am confident that he will bring the same enthusiasm and innovative thinking to his new role as president – US.

Bower served as an officer in the United States Navy before joining the restaurant industry. He began his restaurant career with the second-largest Domino’s franchise organization, Team Washington, where he was a regional director. He was also employed by KFC, where he was the KFC operations leader from 2006 to 2008. He was responsible for more than 1,300 KFC franchised restaurants in the western United States. He led KFC's company operations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, before becoming operations leader.

Bower holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy and a Masters of Business Administration from Emory Univ.