Kelli Valade (born October 11, 1969) is an American

businesswoman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

who was formerly the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Red Lobster Red Lobster Hospitality, LLC is an American casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company has operations across most of the United States (including Puerto Rico), and Canada, as well as in Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, ...

. Previously, she was the CEO and president of Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K). She is the former brand president of Chili's Grill & Bar and former executive vice president at

Brinker International Brinker International, Inc. (or simply Brinker) is an American multinational hospitality industry company that owns Chili's and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant chains. Founded in 1975 and based in Dallas, Texas, Brinker currently owns, operat ...

. As of June 2022, she has been the CEO of

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,400 Restaurant, restaurants in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and several other internationa ...

. Prior to that, she held many executive positions in operations as COO and in human resources.

Early life and education

Valade was born on October 11, 1969, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

. She was adopted at birth, raised in an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

family, and spent her Sundays cooking meatballs and sauce with her grandmother She grew up playing softball and basketball in

New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

and had her first job as a hostess at

TJ's Big Boy Big Boy is an American casual dining restaurant chain store, chain headquartered in Southfield, Michigan; it is currently operated in most of the United States by Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC. The Big Boy name, design aesthetic, and menu were ...

when she was 16 years old. From there, her love for the restaurant industry was born. Valade received her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in sociology from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

, where she ran an Italian restaurant while studying. She received her

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Early career

Valade started her career in restaurants and hospitality in 1993 when she worked as an intern at American Services Management Resources, now known as TDn2K. From there, she moved to

Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Carlson is an American privately held company headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States. Its primary subsidiary is Carlson Private Capital Partners, a family office that manages the owners' wealth. It previously held interests in hote ...

where she was a manager of training and recruiting for Friday's Front Row Italiano, part of T.G.I. Fridays. In 1996, she joined

as the director of

On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is an American chain of Tex-Mex food casual dining restaurants. The chain and brand name is owned by Argonne Capital Group. History The first On The Border location opened on October 29, 1982, in Dallas, ...

Tenure at Brinker

In November 1996, Valade was hired to Brinker International as the director for On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina. From there, she held a number of senior and executive positions that included: 1997 - 2000: director, human resources, Brinker International
2000 - 2002: senior director, corporate human resources and diversity & inclusion, Brinker International
2002 - 2003: vice president, human resources
2003 - 2004: vice president, emerging brands
2004 - 2005: vice president, compensation & compliance
2005 - 2007: vice president, people & performance
2007 - 2009: senior vice president, PeopleWorks, Chili's Grill & Bar
2010 - 2016: chief operating officer, Chili's Grill & Bar
2016 - 2018: president, Chili's Grill & Bar and executive vice president, Brinker International As Brinker's president, she created the brand strategy and direction and oversaw all executive leadership functions for 1,600 restaurants, 75,000 staff and $3 billion in annual revenues. Additionally, she grew average annual restaurant volumes from $2.8 million to $3.1 million in 18 months and introduced a "3 for $10" value menu platform, leveraging Chili's core equities, driving immediate and sustaining traffic improvement of 8%. During her time as Chili's COO, Valade implemented the "Best Life" wellbeing platform with programs tied to improving team members’ career, social, financial, community and physical wellbeing, achieving all-time high team engagement scores.

Non-profit

Valade is on the board of directors of the Women's Foodservice Forum, an organization that is accelerating the advancement of women leaders. Additionally, she is on the board of Shelton School, an organization focused on improving the education of individuals with learning differences.

Awards and memberships

* Board of directors: Women's Foodservice Forum * On the Top 50 Power List presented by ''Nation's Restaurant News'' * Board member: National Restaurant Association, 2013 - 2015 * Previous board member for the Multicultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance * Won the Beacon Award from The Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo * Won the 2012 Women in Business Award presented by the ''Dallas Business Journal'' * Was named a Women Worth Watching by the ''Diversity Journal'' in 2010

Personal life

Valade has been married to her husband, Don Valade, since 1998. They reside in Dallas with their children, Morgan and Christian.

References

External links

www.tdn2k.com TDn2K
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valade, Kelli 1969 births Living people American women chief executives Binghamton University alumni American women business executives Syracuse University alumni 21st-century American women Businesspeople from Syracuse, New York