{"id":191270,"date":"2026-03-05T05:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T05:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/191270\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T05:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T05:27:11","slug":"brinker-international-promotes-exec-to-evp-chief-marketing-officer-dallas-innovates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/191270\/","title":{"rendered":"Brinker International Promotes Exec to\u00a0EVP\/Chief Marketing Officer \u00bb Dallas Innovates"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brinker Executive Vice President and CMO George Felix [Photo: Brinker International Inc.]<\/p>\n

Dallas-based Brinker International (NYSE: EAT<\/a>) has promoted George Felix to executive vice president and chief marketing officer, overseeing marketing for both Chili\u2019s Grill & Bar\u00a0and\u00a0Maggiano\u2019s\u00a0Little Italy.<\/p>\n

Felix joined Brinker in 2022 as SVP and CMO of Chili\u2019s, \u201cwith a successful track record of making legacy brands exciting again,\u201d Brinker said.<\/p>\n

His vision, strategy and leadership brought creative and authentic marketing to Chili\u2019s that helped return the brand to category leadership in both sales and traffic growth, the company added\u2014resulting in Brinker International\u2019s market cap increasing from $1.3 billion at the start of his tenure to $6.25 billion as of March 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

Felix also partnered with Chili\u2019s operations to help simplify and improve execution so that food and service at Chili\u2019s is as good in the restaurants as it looks in advertising, Brinker added.<\/p>\n

In his expanded role, Felix will continue to lead marketing at Chili\u2019s and will now bring that same strategic vision to Maggiano\u2019s. As part of the \u201cBack to Maggiano\u2019s\u201d strategy, he will focus on clarifying the brand\u2019s positioning and improving execution to drive stronger performance. Felix will help Maggiano\u2019s to deliver Italian-American favorites \u201cabundantly served with warm and attentive service that makes our guests feel like family,\u201d Brinker said.<\/p>\n

Brinker CEO and President Kevin Hochman said Felix \u201chas proven that when you deeply understand your guests and stay relentlessly focused on what makes a brand special, extraordinary results follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis leadership has shaped the entire guest experience and delivered sustainable results by making Chili\u2019s more relevant than ever,\u201d Hochman added in a statement. \u201cElevating him to lead marketing for both brands reflects our confidence in his ability to apply a proven playbook to Maggiano\u2019s and accelerate performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Felix\u2019 accolades have included being named one of Fast Company\u2019s 2025 CMOs of the Year, Ad Age 2025 CMO of the Year, ADWEEK 2024 Marketing Vanguard award winner, among others.<\/p>\n

He will continue reporting to Brinker CEO and President Kevin Hochman.<\/p>\n

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\tR E A D\u00a0\u00a0 N E X T\t<\/p>\n

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The first-of-its-kind collaboration turns “the most comfortable seat in the house into the most comfortable boots,” Chili’s said. A Booth Belt is available, too, featuring “exclusive chili pepper stitching.”<\/p>\n

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A 29-year Brinker employee, Aaron White began her Brinker career as a Chili’s server and bartender and has most recently served as executive vice president and chief people officer.<\/p>\n

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With more than 2,000 sunflower lanyards\u2014worn by travelers who may need extra time, space, or support\u2014already issued, and sensory rooms in development, DFW Airport is creating a travel experience that recognizes different needs and reduces stress for all kinds of travelers.<\/p>\n

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In June, Dallas Innovates wrote about how Chili’s went viral on TikTok this year, snagging \u201cover 200 million views” for videos about the chain’s Triple Dipper menu offerings and stretched-out mozzarella sticks. Now Slate has taken a deeper dive into why the Dallas-based brand has become “the hottest restaurant chain in the country.”<\/p>\n

\t\"DFW<\/a><\/p>\n

Founded in 1987, Miami-based AGI provides “mission-critical, outsourced services” that aim to enable the efficient movement of cargo and passenger aircraft through major airport hubs across North America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brinker Executive Vice President and CMO George Felix [Photo: Brinker International Inc.] Dallas-based Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[50558,19991,102,104,103,75899],"class_list":["post-191270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-brinker-international","tag-chilis","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-george-felix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}