Enterprise Finalists

Dave Faupel is the Chief Marketing Officer for Priority Commerce. According to his personal website, Dave is a marketing visionary with over two decades of experience developing integrated campaigns, global messaging strategies, and scalable content ecosystems. In his current role he is responsible for driving global brand growth and revenue alignment through executive strategy, team empowerment, and precise messaging frameworks. Dave Faupel loves talking about Dave Faupel in the third person.

In 2023, we acquired a banking solution to fill out our connected commerce platform. The target audience for this product is C-level bankers at credit unions, regional and large money-centered banks. We built a thought leadership event which was kept small, but allowed leaders to speak freely on the rapidly changing market, and positioned ourselves as a thought leader in the space. The event has continued to grow with 11 of the top 15 banks by revenue attending each year and has driven an overall ROI of 1550% over a 3-year period.

Jo Ann Herold is Vice President of Marketing / CMO at Georgia State University, where she leads brand strategy, communications, marketing, public relations, events, and government relations. A three-time Chief Marketing Officer, she has held executive leadership roles at HoneyBaked, Interface, Inc, and Arby’s. Her honors include the American Marketing Association Lifetime Achievement Award and Marketer for Good Award. She is the bestselling author of two books and has written numerous articles for Fast Company.

Throughout my career, I have believed that innovation, marketing, and leadership are most powerful when they improve people’s lives. I am a big believer in marketing for good. From leading global brand transformations at Interface, Inc. HoneyBaked, and Arby’s to advancing brand and marketing innovation at Georgia State University, I’ve focused on connecting strategy with measurable impact in marketing. Most recently, the team at GSU secured the university’s first dedicated multimillion-dollar marketing investment, launched AI-powered storytelling capabilities, and helped generate more value for every marketing dollar invested—proving that bold ideas, empowered teams, and purposeful leadership can drive extraordinary outcomes.

Angela Johnson is the Chief Marketing Officer of Edible Brands, where she leads marketing, innovation, and brand strategy across Edible Arrangements and Rōti Modern Mediterranean. With over 23 years of franchise marketing experience spanning agency, brand, and executive leadership, she has built new revenue categories, driven omnichannel transformation, and expanded both brands into modern, growth-oriented platforms. Angela is recognized for disciplined execution, franchisee-first leadership, and building high-performing teams that deliver at scale.

When Edible Brands acquired Rōti Modern Mediterranean, the marketing and innovation team faced a unique challenge — modernizing a legacy gifting brand while rebuilding a fast-casual concept for franchise scale, simultaneously, under shared infrastructure. At Edible, the team built entirely new revenue categories including bakery, floral, and dessert boards, transforming the brand from a holiday-dependent concept into a year-round gifting platform. At Rōti, the team launched the brand’s most successful LTO to date, created an annual brand holiday that debuted internationally, and drove record-breaking performance across every digital and delivery channel. Two different brands. One unified growth strategy.

Ryan Mucatel is the Chief Marketing Officer of AMB Sports and Entertainment, overseeing marketing, brand, digital, data, and retail strategy across the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, NWSL Atlanta, and Atlanta Drive GC (TGL). An executive strategist with 25+ years developing integrated marketing initiatives for global leaders including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Nike, and the NFL, Ryan is a collaborative problem solver and change agent who uses marketing and data to drive measurable business outcomes.

As Chief Marketing Officer for Arthur M. Blank’s AMB Sports and Entertainment, Ryan Mucatel drives marketing-led transformation across the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and NWSL Atlanta. He built a data strategy that earned the NFL’s top ranking for fan gameday satisfaction, and led the move of retail in-house to boost margin and fan experience. Ryan also shaped marketing strategy behind Atlanta’s 2028 Super Bowl and 2031 NCAA Final Four bids. As Vice-Governor of Atlanta Drive GC, he led the team to a TGL championship in its inaugural season. He is a proud servant leader and culture builder.

Jill Thomas is Chief Marketing Officer of Chicken Salad Chick, where she is modernizing the brand’s digital customer ecosystem, strengthening CRM and loyalty, and building scalable marketing strategies to support rapid national growth. She is also evolving the brand’s Southern storytelling to connect with a new generation while preserving its distinctive culture and community roots. Jill brings deep consumer, e-commerce and loyalty expertise to the brand. Previously, Jill served as CMO of PGA TOUR Superstore.

Jill has transformed the marketing organization into a consumer-led, data-informed and digitally enabled growth engine. She introduced a new stage-gate innovation process, resulting in the brand’s most successful limited-time offering to date, and is reinventing loyalty from transactional rewards to personalized relationship-building. A new segmentation strategy and automated customer journeys are driving more relevant engagement, while a redesigned team structure better supports guests, franchisees and restaurants. Jill has also sharpened media, creative and menu strategies, advanced the digital customer experience, and initiated brand positioning work. These changes have contributed to record-breaking business performance and growth significantly outpacing the restaurant industry.