For over 15 years, Kathleen’s driven impactful marketing & communications initiatives as a senior leader within and advisor to some of the world’s most well-known restaurant, CPG and automotive companies. Her restaurant industry tenure spans emerging, high-growth concepts to veteran global brands across QSR, fast casual and casual dining.
Kathleen currently serves as Vice President of Marketing and Brand Development at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. where she leads traffic, sales and brand building initiatives for the 500-unit burger brand, including brand marketing, digital/loyalty, paid & earned media and executive thought leadership, as well as guiding the brand’s national philanthropic partnerships with Make-A-Wish and Blessings in a Backpack.
Prior to joining Red Robin, Kathleen served as senior vice president at ICR, a strategic advisory firm, leading communications strategy, corporate positioning and reputation management for a range of public and private restaurants and restaurant tech companies. Prior, she served as VP of Brand at Austin-based Torchy’s Tacos, where she led comprehensive brand marketing strategy for the 100+ unit fast-casual brand, focused on driving awareness, sales, digital transformation and loyalty, and as VP of Communications at California Pizza Kitchen, where she guided PR strategy for CPK’s “Next Chapter” brand transformation, global relaunches, new market entries and more.
In her current role with Red Robin, she’s excited to return to her roots in the burger business, going back to her days leading brand awareness efforts as Director of Public Relations at CKE Restaurants, parent of Carl’s Jr. & Hardee’s.
Kathleen is proud to serve the Women in Restaurant Leadership Advisory Board and as a member of the Prosper Forum’s inaugural class of Prosper Accelerators, each focused on creating opportunity and connection within our dynamic industry. She also serves on the national board for Blessings in a Backpack, a 501c3 organization fighting childhood hunger by providing weekend meals to kids who might otherwise go hungry.
An avid student of wine, Kathleen is a silver-pin certified sommelier and Italian wine specialist with the North American Sommelier Association, a chapter of the Worldwide Sommelier Association. She holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Oxford and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Southern California.
