Former CKE Restaurants executive Ron Coolbaugh was appointed chief executive officer for Fresh Brothers, a Los Angeles-based pizza chain with 22 units.

In his new role, Coolbaugh will be charged with overseeing Fresh Brothers’ growth beyond its Southern California base.

Coolbaugh started with CKE, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, as a high school student in the mid-1980s. For the next three decades he continued to rise through key roles in management and led much of the company’s international footprint, culminating in becoming the company’s chief operations officer.