Marco's names Cathy Hull first CMO

Marco’s Franchising LLC has named Cathy Hull as the company’s first chief marketing officer to oversee advertising and branding strategy for the 425-unit Marco’s Pizza chain.

Hull comes to Toledo, Ohio-based Marco’s from Fazoli’s LLC, where she was chief marketing officer for four years and helped develop the Lexington, Ky.-based chain’s brand repositioning from quick service to fast casual, which resulted in more than 30 months of same-store sales growth. She will succeed Marco’s vice president of marketing Peter Wise, who stepped down earlier this year.

Before her stint at Fazoli’s, Hull was vice president of strategy and brand marketing with Papa John’s Pizza in Louisville, Ky. She also was the first female regional manager in the history of the Oscar Mayer Foods Corp., according to a statement from Marco’s.

“Cathy has a keen understanding of the importance of consumer insights in driving a plan to success,” Marco’s president and chief executive, Jack Butorac, said in a statement. “We are at a pivotal point in our growth phase. Her experience in marketing strategy creation and execution, new-product development and launch, and overall leadership capabilities to create brand alignment across the organization will benefit our franchise partners tremendously and take us over the edge in our category.”

In December 2012, Hull was recognized as one of the 250 honorees on ExecRank’s “Top Private Company Marketing Executive” list, which evaluated more than 15,000 private-company marketers.

Hull joins several other high-level executives at Marco’s who recently came to the pizza brand from other major restaurant companies, including chief operating officer Bryon Stephens, formerly of Yum! Brands Inc.; chief legal officer Todd Watson, formerly of Metromedia Restaurant Group; and director of financial planning and analysis James Boswell, formerly of Darden Restaurants Inc.

In a statement, Hull said the brand culture and executive team at Marco’s “truly inspire me.”

“This brand has an amazing story to tell, and we’re going to tell it at every opportunity we can in the marketplace,” she said. “I was attracted to both the quality of the product, combined with the team’s collaborative approach toward winning.”

Marco’s was founded in 1978 and operates in 32 states, as well as the Bahamas.

Contact Mark Brandau at [email protected].
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