Austin, Texas-based Vital Farms has appointed Kathryn McKeon to chief marketing officer. McKeon has more than 15 years of experience in brand marketing, with a focus on building global and emerging consumer food brands.
As CMO, McKeon will oversee the brand, content, community management, shopper marketing, consumer insights, communications and creative design marketing functions.
McKeon joined Vital Farms in 2016 as one of the first marketing leaders. In her more than five years with the company, she has served in several marketing leadership roles, including most recently VP of marketing. She has played an instrumental role in evolving the company’s brand from an emerging name to a national leader in ethical food products as well as initiatives such as Vital Farms’ Effie award-winning Bullsh*t Free campaign and its novel traceability product feature, an industry-first transparency initiative that has received more than 500,000 views to date.
“Kathryn has had a tremendous impact on our ability to attract and retain households and drive loyalty for our products. We know the strength of our brand will continue to be a critical growth driver for Vital Farms,” said Russell Diez-Canseco, president and CEO. “While we conducted an extensive external search for the CMO position, it was clear through those conversations that Kathryn was the perfect choice. She’s an inspiring leader, creative, competitive, analytical and a culture champion, all characteristics she’s demonstrated in her six years as a member of the marketing leadership team. I am confident in Kathryn and her team and look forward to all they will accomplish in the years ahead.”
“I am honored to transition to the CMO role and eager to lead the next phase of our brand in service of our purpose to improve the lives of people, animals and the planet through food,” McKeon said. “I truly believe we have the most talented marketing professionals in the industry on our team. They have demonstrated time and time again that a creative, nimble and opportunistic mindset, paired with a steadfast adherence to our values of honesty and transparency in food production will drive sustainable growth. I could not be more excited to work alongside them as we take our brand to new heights.”
Prior to Vital Farms, McKeon held brand marketing roles at Mondelēz International, one of the world’s largest snack companies, and supported brand marketing for consumer household products including Starbucks Coffee, Stride Gum, Ritz Crackers and Halls.
She began her career in media sales for NewsCorp, a global content and information services company. McKeon received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business.
Vital Farms is a national consumer brand that works with more than 250 small family farms and is the leading U.S. brand of pasture-raised eggs by retail dollar sales. As a Delaware Public Benefit Corp., Vital Farms prioritizes the long-term benefits of each of its stakeholders, including farmers and suppliers, customers and consumers, communities and the environment, and crew members and stockholders.
Vital Farms’ products, including shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, ghee, egg bites, breakfast bars and liquid whole eggs, are sold in more than 18,000 stores nationwide. Vital Farms pasture-raised eggs can also be found on menus at hundreds of food service operators across the country.
For more information, visit vitalfarms.com.
