Bloomin? Brands, Inc. announced that Rohit Lal, who currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Saia Inc., has joined the company?s Board of Directors. In addition, R. Michael Mohan, who has served as a Director since 2017, has been named Chairman of the Board.

Mohan succeeds Jim Craigie, who has retired as Chairman and as a Director after 10 years of service to Bloomin? Brands. These appointments are part of the Company?s ongoing Board refreshment and succession planning, and its commitment to good corporate governance.

Lal currently leads IT teams in enterprise-wide solutions from applications to analytics in his role as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Saia. Lal is an expert in transforming IT systems and cultures and ensuring IT solutions and data-driven decisions become competitive tools to enable and advance an organization?s strategic objectives. He brings experience in designing and implementing solutions focused on customer satisfaction, productivity, and asset utilization.

Prior to Saia, Lal held the role of Director, Enterprise Architecture for CONA Services, an IT shared services company owned by the 11 largest Coca-Cola Bottlers in North America. Mohan was appointed to the Board in 2017. He currently serves as Chairman of the Compensation Committee and is a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

He served as President and Chief Operating Officer and in various other executive roles in merchandising and marketing during his nearly 18-year tenure at Best Buy Co., Inc. Mohan is an operations expert, with significant experience in retail management and digital marketing, as well as a deep understanding of Bloomin? Brands? dynamic family of brands, its guests, and its go-forward strategy.