Jack in the Box Inc. has given general counsel Sarah Super a promotion and an additional title as the restaurant chain grapples with disgruntled franchisees and prepares for the departure of the company's chief legal officer and CEO. 

The San Diego-based company announced on Monday that Super was elevated from vice president to senior VP and also appointed chief risk officer. She'll continue to serve as general counsel of the company, where she's worked for six years. 

Departing chief legal officer Phillip Rudolph had also served as the company's chief risk officer. The firm announced in late September that Rudolph was slated to step down on Feb. 28, along with two other executives who left earlier this month.

The company stated that "others within the organization" would assume the responsibilities of the three departing executives.

Super joined Jack in the Box as vice president and associate general counsel in December 2013, after representing the company for five years as outside counsel while she was a partner at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani in Los Angeles. She was named general counsel in November 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Attempts to speak with Super and Jack in the Box representatives about Super's promotion were not immediately successful. The company also promoted two other female executives, Adrienne Ingoldt, now senior VP, chief brand and experience officer; and Jennifer Kennedy, senior VP, chief product and innovation officer. 

"These executives have brought great value to our company, and in their new roles will continue to serve the needs of all our stakeholders," Jack in the Box CEO Lenny Comma said in a statement.

In 2018, the National Jack in the Box Franchisee Association demanded that the company replace Comma in the wake of a vote of no confidence in the firm's management. Later that same year, the association sued the company in Los Angeles. The franchisees want a court order that will allow them to audit the company's marketing fund. 

"We are concerned an investigation may reveal that some of those funds may have been used to offset normal operational expenses," said the association's attorney, Robert Zarco of Zarco Einhorn Salkowski & Brito in Miami. 

Zarco added that he's had "positive dealings" with Super. He described her as a "very capable lawyer" who has "her finger on the pulse of what is going on in the company and the direction the company needs to take if it's going to improve its relationship with its franchisees."

In December, the company disclosed that Comma was on the way out, though he has not set a specific exit date. The company has hired Chicago-based executive search firm Spencer Stuart to help find Comma's successor.

Comma said in a statement that he was involved in the search and would work closely with his successor "to assure a smooth and successful leadership transition for the company and its stakeholders, including our incredible guests, employees, franchisees, suppliers and, of course, shareholders."

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