We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jo Ann Herold. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jo Ann below.

Jo Ann, appreciate you joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?

One of my favorite bosses was Hala Moddelmog. I worked with her when she was President of Arby’s Restaurant Group. She was an early mentor and someone I knew for a long-time, even before our time at Arby’s. Hala has great vision and she wanted to have a deeper commitment within our foundation. She tapped me to take the lead on the brand side. We partnered with No Kid Hungry and raised over $15 million dollars to help end childhood hunger. It was a beautiful way to leverage brand and purpose and do good in the world.

Another favorite boss was Dan Hendrix, who was the CEO at Interface, Inc. He hired me to globalize marketing. He was someone who always had my back and gave me freedom and resources to make a difference. During our time, we created a new sustainability mission, called Climate Takeback, and reimagined our concept design and product offering based on what the consumer was asking for. He’s a great man and role model.

Jo Ann, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In all my roles I have reported to the CEO and worked closely with the Board of Directors for private-equity, publicly traded and family-owned firms. I’ve twice served as Chief Marketing Officer for The Honey Baked Ham Company and served as the Global CMO for Interface, Inc. and created Interface’s first truly global brand team, delivering product and brand strategies resulting in 5 consecutive quarters of growth and the highest stock price in Interface’s history. I played a significant role in Interface’s bold global sustainability movement, Climate Take Back and served as VP of Brand and Communications at Arby’s Restaurant Group and was recruited to serve on the brand turnaround team. I’ve been recognized by the National Diversity Council’s Most Powerful and Influential Women and two Effie’s for marketing effectiveness and recently received a Lifetime Achievement award from the American Marketing Association and am the 2023 recipient of the AMA’s Marketer for Good! I am currently the chief executive officer of Herold Growth Consulting serving multiple clients across industry sectors in B2C and B2B. I am the practitioner lead for Georgia State University’s CMO Roundtable where I leverage my network as the Past President of the CMO Club and AMA Atlanta to bring in CMOs, thought leaders and funding. I also serve on the executive board of Covenant House and teach the Executive MBA Global Strategic Marketing course at Georgia State University! One of my biggest achievements is being a published author of the book “Living On A Smile: 16 Ways to Live a Big Life and Lead with Love,” which is now available for purchase online through Walmart and Barnes & Noble, thanks to a distribution deal secured between Ripples Media and Ingram Content Group! Ultimately I am a strategist, speaker, author, former CMO, current CEO and part of the Atlanta community. I aim to lead with love in my leadership roles and encourage others to do the same!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

During the pandemic, we all had to pivot. At the time, I was the Chief Marketing Officer for the Honey Baked Ham. We did about six years of work in about three weeks. This includes introducing buy online, pick up, in store and curbside delivery. We also targeted our digital efforts to a younger demographic called, Queens of Conveniences. We launched a new meal program designed to meet the needs of this busy customer target.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

The backstory was that I came back to Honey Baked Ham as the CMO for the second time (I left for eight years and went to Arby’s and then Interface). When I returned the second time, the franchisees were very concerned with where the brand was heading–there was too much discounting, not enough brand or buzz in the marketplace. With the help of many, we were able to convince the franchisees to increase their ad fund. In doing so, we had more advertising dollars to spend on TV ads, digital and PR. We launched KellyBaked and it helped grow their sales and profits. The ad also won a much coveted EFFIE award for advertising effectiveness. Watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=190267901922573.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannherold/
• Other: [email protected] https://www.amazon.com/Living-Smile-Ways-Live-Life-ebook/dp/B0B39MQXV3