BIO

Bob Kraut is a transformative marketing leader with a winning record of re-energizing brands and solving tough marketing challenges. He is currently Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Papa John's International, the world's third largest pizza company. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Brand Marketing & Advertising at Arby’s Restaurant Group, where he was responsible for Arby's total "go-to-market" activities, including platform and menu marketing, calendar development, national TV and print advertising, digital and social media. In less than 8 months, Bob led a sales turnaround resulting in five consecutive quarters of sales growth after four years of decline. He successfully introduced Arby’s new Angus Beef platform via the “Arby’s. It’s Good Mood Food” positioning and ad campaign; he also improved value perceptions of the core menu through introduction of $1 Value Menu. Prior to Arby's, Kraut served as Vice President, Marketing Communications for Pizza Hut. His notable accomplishments include developing and implementing the “America’s Favorite Pizza” positioning, launching Pizza Hut’s award winning pizzahut.com website and developing the highly visible “PastaHut” pasta campaign resulting in system-wide same store sales growth and significant improvement in brand preference. Previously, Kraut held a series of increasingly responsible marketing and advertising positions at General Motors including Director, GM Brand Marketing & Advertising Operations, Brand Manager and Director, Advertising & Sales Promotion at Pontiac-GMC Division. Kraut’s marketing career began in Chicago with Foote, Cone & Belding and Tatham Euro RSCG, where he was responsible for integrated communications. He graduated both Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA degree in marketing management from the Crosby School of Management, SUNY at Buffalo. He also attended the Advanced Management Training Program at Harvard Business School.