Experience

Slutty Vegan

• United States
• Restaurants
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Chief Marketing Officer

  • Oct 2022 - Present



Krispy Kreme

• Food and Beverage Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• VP of Marketing

  • May 2021 - Oct 2022



IHG Hotels & Resorts

• United Kingdom
• Hospitality
• 700 & Above Employee

• Global Marketing, Head of Restaurant and Bar

  • Sep 2019 - May 2021

  Lead global restaurant and bar strategy and delivery across mainstreams brands – Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, EVEN Hotels, avid Hotels, and Attwell Suites. Map the food and beverage strategy to each brand’s unique DNA to deliver the brand proposition through compelling food and beverage offerings that drive capture rates and deliver year-over-year sales growth. Oversee the culinary team to create profitable menu innovation, from concept to commercialization. Partner in the creation of menu and point-of-purchase collateral to drive on-property order preference and sales. Reinforce the franchise value chain and deliver unit growth through tools and models that provide guidance on variable costs and operational best practices. Inspire a cross-continental team while building a culture of food and beverage excellence and delivery

• Global Marketing, Brand Director - Holiday Inn Express

  • Aug 2017 - Sep 2019

  Led rollout of the new Express Start Breakfast®, a strategic initiative that delivers on a key moment-of-truth in the guest journey, differentiates the Holiday Inn Express brand, and drives superior brand performance on breakfast as the #1 driver of preference within the upper-midscale hotel category. Drove positive performance of the new Express Start Breakfast®, lowering costs by 20% and delivering positive returns on all key brand experience metrics: Overall Breakfast Satisfaction, Quality of Food, Staff Attentiveness, Value Relative to Price Paid, Overall Owner and Operator Satisfaction. Served as the face of the Holiday Inn Express brand, leading strategic brand discussions with executive leadership, global leadership, and the owner community. Briefed and directed architecture and interior design firm partner to evolve the guest room and public area standard room décor (SRD) packages to reflect the brand positioning and global design philosophy. Increased the value of the owner proposition by value engineering the hotel design, unlocking +10% in furniture, fixture, and equipment (FF&E) cost savings. Led global brand design strategy to create a consistent brand experience around the world, while leveraging supply chain efficiencies to offset tariff hikes and construction and labor cost increases



Arby's

• United States
• Restaurants
• 700 & Above Employee

• Brand Director, Restaurant Experience

  • Aug 2015 - Aug 2017

  Initiated and led the first brand experience strategy, identifying and activating against guest pain points, delighters, and outages across consumption channels – Drive-Thru, In-Restaurant, and Carry-Out. Architected the framework and strategy to completely overhaul the restaurant experience through a multi-discipline approach tailored to merge emotion and functionality for a fully immersive guest experience that can be tested and applied to the complete restaurant system. Guided by guest insights and operationalized for efficiencies, overhauled the brand’s menu board resulting in annual sales growth of +$5.8K per restaurant, across a system of 3,200-plus restaurants. Led the identification and roll-out of order accuracy and sales enablers, resulting in annual accuracy returns of +$5.7K per restaurant. Guided and managed agency partners to deliver guest-motivating communication that drove traffic and sales results across brand promotions and initiatives, while overseeing the migration and full integration.



Darden

• United States
• Restaurants
• 700 & Above Employee

• Brand Manager - Olive Garden

  • Jan 2013 - Aug 2015

  Led disruptive marketing strategy to challenge and overhaul current in-restaurant and local marketing executions through qualitatively informed and quantitatively validated in-restaurant testing. Developed a portfolio of merchandising materials, inclusive of the first completely new menu system in the brand’s history, to drive brand reappraisal and enhance the in-restaurant experience while actively managing a +$6 million budget. Created a strategy to support and grow multi-channel gift card sales, resulting in +5% distribution growth and estimated incremental sales growth of +$9.8million. Actively managed and directed agency partners, led cross-functional teams, and developed and led direct reports

• Associate Brand Manager - Olive Garden

  • Apr 2012 - Dec 2013

  Created remodel marketing plan for 400+ restaurants, inclusive of radio, direct mail, and social media; yielding average weekly guest count growth of +216 per restaurant. Managed agency partners to develop advertising creative, digital communication, and social media content to drive incremental guest count growth and reestablish brand value perceptions. Directed agency partners and food photographers in the creation of in-restaurant merchandising materials that support and bring to life the new brand direction and voice.



Sara Lee

• Food and Beverage Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Associate Brand Manager - Jimmy Dean

  • Sep 2010 - Feb 2012

  Led a cross-functional team in portfolio strategy resulting in the launch of six Jimmy Dean line extensions. Managed market test initiative to determine product line viability, resulting in a strategic go-to-market executional plan . Analyzed brand performance trends, competitive landscape, and key retailer business models to formulate strategic and financial annual operating plans for the Gallo Salame brand. Analyzed P&L results and budget line items to maximize profitability and improve business performance.



Sara Lee

• Food and Beverage Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Associate Brand Manager Intern - Innovation and Strategy

  • Jun 2009 - Sep 2009

  Assessed five key competitor brands and created a comprehensive brand framework and five stage plan for each. Mined new product innovations in wellness and nutrition, taste and texture, and convenience to create three product concepts per category that could fit into the innovation pipeline for the Ball Park and Hillshire Farm brands . Assessed five key competitor brands and created a comprehensive brand framework and five stage plan for each. Mined new product innovations in wellness and nutrition, taste and texture, and convenience to create three product concepts per category that could fit into the innovation pipeline for the Ball Park and Hillshire Farm brands .



The Coca-Cola Company

• United States
• Food and Beverage Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Marketing Special Projects Manager - Nestea

  • Feb 2006 - Aug 2008

  Formulated and implemented first-ever strategy to forecast weekly Nestea volume in Latin America resulting in increased understanding of brand performance and the ability to recognize and quickly react to competitive threats. Collaborated with international brand management teams to maximize $5 million marketing budget through analysis of potential returns on marketing initiatives. Formulated and implemented first-ever strategy to forecast weekly Nestea volume in Latin America resulting in increased understanding of brand performance and the ability to recognize and quickly react to competitive threats. Collaborated with international brand management teams to maximize $5 million marketing budget through analysis of potential returns on marketing initiatives.