Karen A. Brennan, Chief Marketing Officer, Bravo! Development, Inc.

Karen A. Brennan is an accomplished, results-oriented restaurant marketing executive with a record of award-winning marketing initiatives. Her expertise includes brand development strategy, customer-focused marketing programs, strategic planning, facilitation, media strategy, market research, menu development and design, new product strategies, cross-functional strategic problem-solving initiatives and special events. She has produced impressive results for both large and small companies in turn-around situations, new concept development projects and successful growth initiatives. 

She currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Columbus, Ohio-based Bravo! Development, Inc. Prior to this, she was the founder and principle of brand strategy group, Brandscapes, Inc., where she worked with dozens of restaurant brands, and has served as Marketing Vice President for Coco’s Bakery Restaurants and Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Development for Max & Erma’s Restaurants.

She holds an MBA from The Ohio State University in Marketing and Organizational Behavior with background in writing and design. She serves on The Ohio State University College of Business Alumni Board of Directors and the National Restaurant Association Marketing Executives Group Board.

Earlier this year, Brennan outlined guidelines for maintaining guest counts and sales in a tough economy.

Known as a creative thinker and brand visionary, Lopez brings more than 20 years of restaurant and marketing experience. He has held the position of vice president of marketing at Del Taco, Buca di Beppo and Ruby's Diner, and executive marketing positions at Arnold Palmer Golf Management and T.G.I. Friday’s.

Lopez has a long history of building brands through traditional advertising and guerilla tactics. He is a frequent guest lecturer on the topics of field marketing tactics, brand building, and public relations. As a Stage 4 Colon Cancer survivor, he was featured on CNN's "Saving Your Life" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Lance Armstrong.

Raji Srinivasan, Associate Professor, 
The Spurgeon Bell Centennial Fellow

Department of Marketing, University of Texas at Austin

Srinivasan holds a PhD from Pennsylvania State University, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, an MS from Madras Christian College, Chennai, India, and a BS from Women's Christian College, Chennai, India.

Her research areas include marketing metrics and organizational innovation. She is currently conducting research on "Advertising, R&D and Variability of Firm Performance"; "Dynamics of the Customer Satisfaction-Purchase Intention Relationship"; and "Total Product Design Concept."

Among many published academic journal articles, Srinivasan’s Turning Adversity into Advantage: Does Proactive Marketing During a Recession Pay Off? appeared in the International Journal of Research in Marketing in 2005.

She also serves on the Editorial Boards of Marketing Science and International Journal of Research in Marketing.