Staci Drilling
Staci Drilling is a seasoned Chief People Officer with a proven track record of leading enterprise-scale people strategies across the restaurant, hospitality, and service industries. She is known for building high-performing cultures, aligning talent strategy with business outcomes, and guiding organizations through periods of rapid growth, complexity, and transformation.
As Chief People Officer, Staci led people strategy for a rapidly growing organization supporting nearly 18,000 employees across close to 1,000 QSR and casual-dining restaurants nationwide. In this role, she oversaw all core people functions, including talent acquisition, leadership development, total rewards, employee relations, and organizational effectiveness. She spearheaded initiatives that strengthened retention and engagement, advanced leadership capability, and embedded diversity, equity, and inclusion into the operating fabric of the business.
Earlier in her career, Staci held Vice President and Director-level roles at well-established hospitality and foodservice organizations including ISS Guckenheimer, Hopdoddy Burger Bar, and Goode Company Restaurants. Across these roles, she partnered closely with executive and operational leadership to scale people systems, develop leaders at every level, and ensure culture kept pace with business growth. Her work consistently focused on translating strategy into practical, repeatable people practices that operators could execute in real-world environments.
Staci brings a balanced leadership approach that blends employee advocacy with business discipline. She is respected for her ability to navigate complexity, build trust with leaders and teams, and create people strategies that drive both performance and engagement.
She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management from Lamar University, graduating magna cum laude. Her credentials include SPHR, SHRM-SCP, and Strategic Workforce Planning certifications, and she is a graduate of Cornell ILR’s Top Seat CHRO program.