Nicholle Robillard
Nicholle Robillard: Nichole Robillard is an award-winning Chief Marketing Officer and brand growth leader with more than 20 years of experience scaling, revitalizing and future-proofing iconic restaurant, food and beverage and retail brands. She’s known for pairing creative vision with operational rigor – and for helping leaders turn complexity into clarity. Most recently, she served as CMO of Red Lobster, where she led marketing, customer insights and culinary & beverage for nearly 550 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada during a pivotal period of reinvention and recovery.
Previously, she guided Smokey Bones through a brand transformation that reignited relevance, strengthened cultural connection and delivered meaningful performance gains. Across her career, she’s been asked to step into high-stakes environments, steady the ship and help teams believe again – then deliver results that matter.
Nichole’s perspective is shaped by time spent on both sides of the table. She’s led from within iconic brands, built businesses from the ground up and spent years inside agencies translating vision into execution. Early in her career, she co-owned a small farm-to-table restaurant in Washington, D.C., grounding her leadership style in deep empathy for founders and operators and a practical understanding of unit economics, culture and execution. She holds a B.A. from Villanova University and an MBA from Florida Atlantic University, and was a founding member of the Advisory Board for Women in Restaurant Leadership (WiRL), where she actively champions the advancement of female leaders in the industry. As a fractional CMO, Nichole partners with founders, CEOs and PE-backed leadership teams to sharpen strategy, unlock growth opportunities and build brands that earn trust and loyalty, not just attention.