Burger King's Ellie Doty, chief marketing officer for North America, is leaving after just over a year at the home of the Whopper, the latest in a string of departures of marketing executives.

"Ellie made the personal decision to leave the Burger King brand," parent company Restaurant Brands International said in a statement. "We appreciate her many contributions to the brand and look forward to seeing what she accomplishes in the next chapter of her career."

Yosef Hojchman, who has 15 years of experience at the company, has taken on the role as interim CMO, the company added.

Doty's departure comes weeks after Paloma Azulay, global chief brand officer of Restaurant Brands International, left the company. And Fernando Machado, who had been Restaurant Brands International's global chief marketing officer, left for Activision Blizzard in April. 

Doty joined Burger King in the summer of 2020 after serving as CMO of Brinker International’s Chili’s Bar and Grill chain. “Her deep industry expertise and proven track record as an innovative leader make her the perfect fit for our organization,” Chris Finazzo, who was then president, Burger King North America, said in a statement in late June 2020. By early July of that year, he had left the company.

In 2020, Wendy's surpassed Burger King to become the No. 2 U.S. burger chain. Both are distant followers behind McDonald's.

Burger King's third-quarter U.S. same-store sales fell 1.6%, Restaurant Brands reported in late October. The chain's global comparable sales rose 7.9% in the quarter. Meanwhile, McDonald's posted same-store sales gains of 9.6% in the U.S. and 12.7% globally during the same quarter. 

"This quarter, we also took important steps to focus our attention on the most significant opportunities at Burger King U.S. to drive long-term, sustainable growth in the business," Restaurant Brands CEO José Cil said in a statement on Oct. 25, four days after news broke on Azulay's departure.