多年来，她一直负责菜单策略和创新，以及麦当劳外卖业务. If you’ve enjoyed a McCrispy Sandwich, Buttermilk Crispy Tenders, or any of the new Burger recipes over the past five years, you have Lauren and her team to thank. Making the move to general management, she was recently promoted to Field Vice President for the Columbus Field Office. She’s now in charge of 1,200 restaurants in the region spanning Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, 管理着公司40亿美元的销售额，监督着从运营、营销到人事和慈善事业的方方面面.

Lauren, who came to Ellis for her Upper School years, earned a B.A. in art history in 2004 and an MBA in 2009, both from the University of Notre Dame. 去年10月，她会见了澳门新葡新京官方大学的营销和传播总监以及校友协调员，谈论了她是如何塑造自己的职业生涯的, and how Ellis gave her the confidence to go for it.

Everybody’s got a childhood memory of the brand. That core truth and what it meant to me was an initial draw, particularly because at the time, the brand had lost relevance and resonance with my generation. And I liked the idea of being a problem solver within such a big company. I had also worked in fine dining in Pittsburgh and I love food, I love hospitality, I love the vibrancy of the service industry. In business school my degree was in marketing, 在我们项目的第一年，(麦当劳的)首席策略师和首席营销官对开心乐园餐的业务做了一个案例研究. 我的同事们就如何扭转企业的下滑轨迹提出了建议, and it went well. 我找到了首席战略师，他是圣母大学校友，我说‘我需要在麦当劳找份工作. How do I get my foot in the door?’ I was incredibly thankful that the Notre Dame alumni network kicked in. Plus, the McDonald's system has a very family centric culture and value system. He opened up his network and let me interview throughout the company.

Ultimately I was hired by [Ronald McDonald House Charities]. My goal was to stay there for a year and then to move on to the brand side, but I loved the work and the team. I got promoted pretty quickly. I was there for four years. At that point, 我想我在美国企业政治中获得了一些悟性，说出了我真正想做的事情, which was to work closer to the food and closer to the brand. I got a job on the menu team managing the burger category. 菜单方面是业务的核心，我当时正在做菜单策略和开发工作. I’ve had my fingerprints all over a lot of food innovation in the past five years. For instance, the chicken sandwich is a billion-dollar business in the U.S., so to say that you’ve had that kind of scale to your work is cool.

Menu is a general management function. 你需要做大量的消费者情报来告诉你下一步你想玩什么，我们可以扩展到14,000 restaurants in the U.S. 然后，你要在我们的设计团队和供应商网络中找出你是否真的能把这个想法变成现实. 然后，我认为真正有趣的是，你如何在餐馆里把它变成现实. You’re really seeing and steering the whole business on menu: the supplying of it, the financing of it, the operationalizing of it, and the franchisee endorsement of it as well.

在2021-2022年，我需要做出一个决定，我是想成为公司的一名营销官，还是想留在现在的位置. I wanted to do more general management, 所以我参加了加速运营项目，从餐厅层面学习我们的业务是如何运作的. Then I got placed here [in Pittsburgh] about a year ago as an Operations Officer. 我一开始是该地区的首席运营官，后来他们把我提升为现场副总裁. In this role, I oversee approximately 1,200 restaurants in the region, about 150 franchisees, and a big team that ensures we are getting the most out of the business. It’s been a rollercoaster ride.

Our company has a five value system built into it; Serve and Community are two of those core values. It’s an expectation that everyone at the company, our suppliers and all of our franchisees, abide by these values. Community service takes all sorts of shapes and forms throughout the company. 我们是一家全球性企业，所以任何时候，只要有与天气有关的重大需求, we immediately pledge support to the Red Cross. 我们还有一辆移动卡车，在自然灾害情况下运送食物和水.

麦当劳之家慈善机构是该组织的慈善选择，所以我们从公司和特许经营商那里做的很多慈善都是针对这个的. Our franchisees do their own community work as well. We know the arches shine brighter, so to speak, when we’re very entrenched in the communities we serve. 许多特许经营商在他们的餐厅举办“麦克老师之夜”活动，通过收益筹集资金回馈学校. Many donate to youth sports as well. 还有一些经营者为癌症事业筹集资金，因为他们的某位员工可能正在与某种癌症作斗争. 

Secure and confident. 澳门新葡新京官方是一个不像传统高中或电影高中那样受欢迎的地方. 就好像你取得的成绩越多，你就越聪明，你在学校里就越酷. 这给了你做自己的许可，让你感到最自信. I think that translated throughout my early career and up until now, to just being an authentic, genuine, uniquely you kind of leader. In this new role everyone keeps telling me, 'You’re a breath of fresh air. You’re so easy to talk to. We can have the right conversations.’ In the middle of that kind of interaction, you generally find solutions. I never tried to be somebody I wasn’t when I was at Ellis, and I think this place gave you full license and permission to do that. At Notre Dame I went through a bit of asking, 'do I need to fit in?’ You’re going from a 33-girl class to a 2,000 person coed environment, and you find yourself asking, 'do I need to be somebody different?’ But at the end of the day you work through that, and the foundation I had [at Ellis] quickly came back.

当我在澳门新葡新京官方的时候，我在La Charcuterie工作，那是一家位于埃尔斯沃斯的法国熟食店. I was a babysitter. I was a ski instructor. I will tell you, 从小在客户服务部门工作中获得的街头智慧是无价的. I didn’t get where I am in my career because I was an academic. 我的好奇心是充满活力的——我确实喜欢挖掘更多的信息和见解——但在一天结束的时候，它是理解页面上的东西是如何从页面上出来并转化为我们的经济结构的. McDonald’s serves the equivalent of the U.S. population every 10 days. You’re serving customers from all walks of life. Growing up in the East End of Pittsburgh, and being at Ellis, you kind of are in a bubble of a certain socioeconomic status. When you work in marketing at McDonald’s, you quickly learn how to appeal, reach, and communicate to all—all different personalities, income levels, credos. 在餐厅层面，你也要这样做，像你希望被对待的那样对待每个人.

I played lacrosse and field hockey here, and I ended up playing lacrosse at Notre Dame as a scholarship athlete. 当你在一所小学校，你是获胜团队的一员，它带来了一定程度的声望. That was awesome to me, to have that level of prowess and compete against other top athletes from Sewickley, Fox Chapel, and Shady Side. I loved being part of that network. 我喜欢Genny Kozusko，她是当时的教练，以及她带给赛场的精神. But more than that, it was honestly the ability to do it all. 我是一名踢踏舞演员，我参加了所有的戏剧，我参加了欢乐合唱团，我做陶艺，我弹钢琴. I did everything I could be involved in. 这是一种允许，你可以把自己伸展到你想去的地方，尤其是在一个小的学校环境中. 每个人都参与进来，这最终让我对自己的能力有了信心，我可以努力做到这一切. My husband still gives me flack for trying to do it all. We have five kids. I’ve done five marathons. I play tennis now. But that’s Ellis! It was fostered here.

I actually really like the slogan "Where Girls Soar.” It’s this belief that you can do anything, and you have the support network giving you the push to do it and then reach higher. Everything was so nurturing. I am Catholic, and both at St. Edmunds and [at Ellis] I think I was one of just a few practicing Catholics. I never really talked about my faith, or even about a family value system, but there was natural acceptance, natural camaraderie that was akin to my belief systems. Sure, there were friend groups, but everyone came together and got along, especially toward junior and senior year.

A lot of times I’m the only woman in a room at work. The voice I gained as part of being an Ellis student really made me confident. I was at the summit last week in Las Vegas for managers, and we did an event for our women operators, which is a minority—it’s probably 20% women owned. 我谈到了我是如何去一所女子学校的，以及女性支持女性的主题, which are still really important. I do have an almost completely women leadership team right now; my two operations officers, my HR officer, and my marketing officer are all women.

Just to be uniquely you. Don’t be afraid to show up for who you are but also explore who you want to become. Successful leaders at my company, and I think everywhere, are authentic, genuine, unique personalities. Playing the political game and fabricating who you are will only get you so far. That’s my advice.