DETROIT ? Kmart Holding Corp. has chosen fast-food industry veteran Aylwin Lewis to lead the retailing company, a decision some analysts said could point to a new push to improve operations following the discounter’s successful financial turnaround.

Kmart announced Monday that Lewis, formerly an executive at the restaurant operator Yum Brands Inc., will replace Julian Day as chief executive and president.

Lewis, 50, is a 13-year veteran of Yum, whose brands include Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Food, and most recently served as president and chief operating officer.

In a statement, Edward Lampert, Kmart’s chairman and majority shareholder, praised Lewis as “the ideal leader and agent of change for Kmart at this time.”

Lewis, who also sits on the boards of Halliburton Co. and Walt Disney Co., is Kmart’s first black chief executive. Yum chairman and chief executive David Novak noted in a statement that Lewis had been the highest-ranking black executive in the restaurant industry.

Day, who became chief executive in January 2003 when the company was in bankruptcy, will remain on the board of directors and assist Lewis in the transition, Kmart said.

Under Day, Troy, Mich.-based Kmart has achieved a speedy financial turnaround since emerging from bankruptcy in May 2003.

It has posted a profit for three quarters in a row. Its shares, which closed at $19.60 following their first day of trading in June of last year, were up $4.31, or 5 percent, at $91.02 in trading Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Gary Balter of UBS Investment Research said Lewis’ appointment could be “the first move to expand executive talent and experience, should Kmart begin to invest outside of the pure retail area.”

Kmart has a distribution plant in Lawrence.