Alicia Mowder

Chief Marketing Officer, Mendocino Farms

Alicia Mowder is chief marketing officer of Mendocino Farms, where she brings deep experience in strengthening the connection between brand promise and everyday execution, ensuring growth is grounded in guest relevance, team engagement, and long-term shareholder value. Alicia is a seasoned restaurant and retail marketing executive who has led brand transformation, menu innovation and engagement strategies across complex, national systems. Most recently at Panera Bread, she served as SVP of Product Strategy and Insights, where she guided a systemwide modernization of the menu and innovation pipeline across more than 2,000 bakery cafés. Her leadership helped refocus the brand on guest needs, sharpen core equities and align cross functional teams around clear growth priorities. Earlier in her career, Alicia helped build a modern, centralized marketing engine at Circle K, unifying brand, digital, CRM and media to drive engagement and accelerate growth at scale. At SONIC Drive-In, she led innovation forward brand and menu strategy, helping reposition the brand through craveable products and a more disciplined, insight driven approach to growth. Throughout her career, Alicia has been recognized for leading with clarity and purpose. She is deeply committed to creating value for guests, empowering team members and delivering sustainable returns for shareholders. Her leadership philosophy centers on rolling up her sleeves with frontline teams, using data to inform decisions without losing sight of human connection, and building brands that earn loyalty through consistency, warmth,and relevance. She has been recognized as 40 under 40 Next Gen Marketing Leaders, Innovator of the Year for Hot Beverages and Food Service, a Future Leader in Convenience, and a MenuMasters Best LTO award recipient.  Alicia also current serves on the board of directors for Swensons Drive-In Restaurants. A native Kansan, she holds a Master of Science from the University of Kansas, a Bachelor of Arts from Washburn University and a certificate in Destination Marketing from Wharton. She lives in Overland Park, Kansas, with her family. 

Sessions

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH

  • The New Rules of Menu Innovation