Fourth Names New CHRO as It Accelerates AI Strategy

Hospitality technology provider Fourth has appointed Kristi Kelly as Chief Human Resources Officer and Trey Yost as Chief Revenue Officer, strengthening its executive leadership as it accelerates AI-led product development for restaurant operators. Kelly will lead global talent strategy and organizational development, while Yost will oversee revenue growth and customer relationships. The appointments reflect a dual priority for scaling technology businesses: building the organizational capabilities needed to innovate while expanding the commercial reach of products serving a labor-intensive industry.

Fourth Strengthens Leadership as AI Strategy Expands

Restaurant operators are under pressure to manage labor costs, retain employees, control inventory, and maintain service quality across locations. Technology providers serving the hospitality industry are responding with increasingly connected platforms that bring workforce management, scheduling, payroll, inventory, and operational analytics together.

For those providers, developing new technology is only part of the challenge. They also need experienced leadership, skilled teams, and commercial organizations capable of translating product innovation into customer value.

Fourth is strengthening those capabilities with two executive appointments. The hospitality workforce and inventory management software provider has named Kristi Kelly Chief Human Resources Officer and Trey Yost Chief Revenue Officer. Both join its Executive Leadership Team as the company advances its AI-led product strategy.

CEO Scott Collison said the appointments are intended to support faster growth, stronger customer relationships, and the organizational capabilities required to serve restaurant operators.

Kristi Kelly to Lead Global People Strategy

Kelly brings more than two decades of executive experience in human capital strategy, particularly within technology and financial technology businesses.

She joins Fourth after leadership roles at Dynatrace, Dayforce, and Comdata, where she worked with multinational organizations through business transformation, market expansion, and cultural change.

At Fourth, Kelly will lead global talent strategy, develop organizational capabilities, and help shape a culture centered on innovation, accountability, and inclusion.

Her experience is relevant to a technology company serving a global hospitality market, where product development, customer support, implementation, and sales teams must operate across different regions and business environments.

As Fourth expands its AI capabilities, its people strategy will need to support more than traditional recruitment and employee administration. It will also involve developing technical expertise, enabling cross-functional collaboration, and ensuring employees can adapt as products and customer requirements evolve.

For a company selling workforce technology to restaurant operators, internal workforce capabilities are particularly important. The organization must understand the operational realities of customers while building products that address complex scheduling, labor, and inventory challenges.

Trey Yost to Drive Revenue and Customer Growth

Yost joins Fourth as Chief Revenue Officer, bringing more than 20 years of experience building and scaling revenue organizations.

Most recently, he served as CRO at Panorama Education. Earlier roles included senior sales leadership positions at Benevity, SiteMinder, and Active Network.

His remit at Fourth will focus on expanding the company’s commercial performance and strengthening relationships with customers.

That is a significant priority in a market where restaurant operators are evaluating technology investments against measurable operational pressures. Software providers must demonstrate that their platforms can help customers improve labor planning, reduce administrative work, control inventory, and protect margins.

Yost’s experience in high-growth, private equity-backed, and venture-backed businesses is intended to support Fourth’s next phase of commercial expansion.

The parallel appointment of a CRO and CHRO suggests that the company is investing in both sides of growth: acquiring and retaining customers while developing the workforce needed to deliver products and services at scale.

AI and the Changing Restaurant Technology Market

Fourth provides workforce management and inventory solutions for restaurants and hospitality businesses. Its product portfolio includes scheduling, hiring, payroll, compliance, inventory management, forecasting, and analytics.

The company’s website says it serves more than 15,000 customers across over 100,000 sites globally, with approximately 2.5 million users. Its technology is designed to help operators coordinate labor and inventory decisions using operational data and forecasting.

AI is becoming an increasingly important part of this product direction. Restaurant operators can use predictive tools to improve demand forecasting, anticipate staffing requirements, manage stock levels, and identify operational inefficiencies.

Fourth has already introduced AI-related capabilities across its product portfolio. Its Fourth iQ platform, for example, is positioned around connecting forecasting, operational oversight, and in-store execution to help restaurant leaders improve performance across locations.

These capabilities address a market in which small changes in staffing levels, purchasing decisions, food waste, or scheduling accuracy can have a direct effect on profitability.

However, AI adoption in hospitality also depends on data quality, integration with point-of-sale and operational systems, and the ability of managers and frontline employees to use recommendations effectively.

Why People Leadership Matters in AI Adoption

The appointment of a CHRO is particularly relevant as technology companies move from AI experimentation toward embedding automation and intelligence into everyday products.

That transition can change the skills organizations need across engineering, product management, sales, customer success, and support. It can also require new approaches to learning, performance management, and organizational design.

Kelly’s responsibilities place her at the center of these workforce considerations. Building teams capable of delivering AI-led products will require attracting specialized talent while helping existing employees develop new capabilities.

There is also a customer-facing dimension. Fourth’s products are designed for restaurant operators whose own employees work in fast-moving, shift-based environments. Understanding frontline workforce needs is essential to developing useful technology for scheduling, hiring, payroll, and employee engagement.

The company’s internal people strategy and its external product strategy are therefore connected by a common challenge: helping organizations make better use of their workforce.

Building the Organization Behind the Product Strategy

Fourth’s executive appointments reflect a broader pattern among enterprise software providers: product innovation, revenue expansion, and organizational development increasingly need to move together.

Yost brings commercial leadership experience intended to help Fourth expand its customer relationships. Kelly brings people leadership experience to support the teams and culture required for that expansion.

Neither appointment alone guarantees successful AI adoption or business growth. The outcomes will depend on product execution, customer adoption, workforce capability, and the measurable value Fourth delivers to restaurant operators.

For the wider HRTech industry, the changes highlight the strategic role of people leadership inside technology companies serving frontline sectors. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in workforce and operational platforms, the ability to build adaptable teams may become as important as the technology itself.

Market Landscape

Fourth’s appointments reflect three connected developments: AI adoption in hospitality operations, the growing importance of workforce technology, and the need for organizational capabilities to support product innovation.