Randy Schekman
2013 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine | Professor of Cell Biology, UC Berkeley | HHMI Investigator | Pioneer of Vesicle Trafficking
David Salyers
Former VP of Marketing, Chick-fil-A | Creator of Iconic "Eat Mor Chikin" Campaign | Author of Remarkable! | Corporate Culture & Customer Experience Expert
Most companies say culture matters. David Salyers spent 37 years proving it does. As one of Chick-fil-A's original marketing executives, he helped build a two-person department into a 200-person powerhouse that fueled 50+ years of consecutive growth. He championed the iconic cow campaign and watched servant leadership principles transform a regional chain into a $10 billion brand with 97% employee retention and customer loyalty competitors can't replicate.
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David Salyers biography
David Salyers is one of the original architects of Chick-fil-A’s marketing legacy and a leading authority on building organizational culture that drives business results. Over 37 years with Chick-fil-A—serving most recently as Vice President of Marketing—corporate culture speaker David Salyers helped transform a regional fast-food chain operating from a converted air freight warehouse into one of America’s most beloved and profitable brands, generating over $10 billion in annual sales with more than 50 consecutive years of growth.
When Salyers joined Chick-fil-A on his college graduation day in 1981, the company had a two-person marketing department. He was instrumental in building that department into a 200-person operation recognized for international creativity and effectiveness. Most notably, Salyers championed the development and evolution of Chick-fil-A’s iconic cow campaign—”Eat Mor Chikin”—which became one of the most recognizable and enduring advertising campaigns in American business history. The campaign didn’t just sell chicken sandwiches; it created an emotional connection with millions of customers who became passionate advocates for the brand.
The Remarkable Formula: Culture as Competitive Advantage
What sets Salyers apart as a speaker and consultant is his firsthand understanding of how Chick-fil-A achieved something most companies only aspire to: turning culture into a sustainable competitive advantage. Under his leadership, Chick-fil-A didn’t focus primarily on increasing sales—it focused on creating raving fans who willingly pay full price, visit frequently, and enthusiastically recommend the brand to others. This customer-centric approach, combined with a 97 percent employee retention rate, demonstrates how servant leadership and genuine care for people translate directly to financial performance.
Salyers witnessed and helped implement principles that most business books theorize about but few organizations successfully execute: choosing purpose over profit alone, creating value for others rather than extracting it, and designing customer experiences that generate “peak moments” rather than merely fixing problems. His insights come not from academic study but from decades inside an organization that proved these principles work at scale.
Beyond Chick-fil-A: Author, Entrepreneur, and Board Leader
Salyers is the author of Remarkable!, a book that distills his leadership lessons on workplace culture transformation. He is also co-founder of Champion Tribes, an initiative helping fathers and sons build meaningful connections through intentional milestone experiences. A Harvard Business School alumnus (AMP166) and recipient of the University of Georgia Terry College of Business Distinguished Alumni Award, Salyers has channeled his entrepreneurial energy into launching multiple startups and serving on numerous boards, including CenterState Banks, Rocky Mountain Ventures LLC, the Atlanta Sports Council, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Board of Trustees.
His board work reflects his commitment to developing leaders and strengthening communities—serving organizations like The Growing Leaders Foundation, reThink, and Eagle Ranch. He spearheaded a $1.2 million campaign to endow the Institute for Leadership Advancement at the University of Georgia’s Terry College in honor of his mentor, Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy.
As a speaker, David Salyers brings the credibility of someone who built something extraordinary from the inside. His keynotes move beyond inspirational platitudes to offer practical frameworks drawn from real-world success at one of America’s most admired companies. Audiences—from C-suite executives to frontline managers—gain actionable strategies for building cultures that attract talent, inspire loyalty, and create customers who become evangelists. Whether addressing customer experience, leadership philosophy, or organizational purpose, Salyers delivers insights grounded in decades of proven results in one of the world’s most competitive industries.
David Salyers Speaking Videos
David Salyers: How to be REMARKABLE
Business Motivation- Chick-Fil-A Marketing Executive David Salyers
David Salyers Keynote Topics
What organization doesn't want to increase sales? But truly remarkable organizations aren't focused on sales—they're focused on creating raving fans. Raving fans are customers who happily pay full price, visit more often, and enthusiastically tell others about your organization. In this dynamic keynote, former Chick-fil-A Marketing Vice President David Salyers recounts the company's biggest successes and shares the principles and strategies behind them that any organization can apply. He reveals how Chick-fil-A shifted from transactional thinking to relationship building, creating customers who demand and fund business growth through loyalty and advocacy. Salyers provides a practical framework for connecting deeply with customers, building authentic brand relationships, and transforming satisfied customers into passionate evangelists who do your marketing for you.
How many businesses do you encounter daily that are simply unremarkable? They lack anything unique setting them apart from competitors and exist only to extract value from customers. There's nothing about them worth remarking about. But what if we could shift the paradigm? In this signature talk, David Salyers powerfully explores what makes certain businesses "remarkable" and how to apply those principles to any organization. He demonstrates how shifting from extracting value from people to creating value for people can radically transform your business and its impact on customers, employees, stakeholders, and your bottom line. Exploring key themes of culture, values, and mission through compelling Chick-fil-A stories and lessons from other world-class brands, "Remarkable" is an engaging keynote with the potential to impact organizations to their core—showing that being remarkable isn't about clever marketing, but about fundamentally reimagining your relationship with everyone you serve.
Every business exists to make money, but is that all your business exists to do? Most businesses lack purpose beyond financial success, and the result is they become commodities—easily replicated or, worse, easily forgotten. The world's greatest organizations understand that having purpose beyond money is critical to lasting success. In "Meaningful," David Salyers masterfully shares how great brands attach meaning to basic product and service offerings, multiplying the value they create for customers. Using compelling examples from Chick-fil-A, Nike, The Ritz Carlton, and Uber, Salyers shows how purpose transforms transactions into relationships and products into experiences. This keynote inspires and instructs organizations to think beyond making marginally more money and instead realize their limitless potential by connecting their work to something larger than quarterly earnings—creating brands customers love and employees are proud to serve.
When businesses consider customer experience strategy, they typically focus on mitigating negative experiences—compensating for slow service, apologizing for inconsiderate employees, refunding lost orders. By focusing only on problems needing fixes, they set the bar at average or, at best, forgettable. But there's a transformative approach to customer experience that focuses on creating memorable positive experiences—"peak moments"—instead of just fixing negative ones. In this compelling talk, David Salyers explores this paradigm shift and challenges how organizations approach hospitality and service. Using moving examples from Chick-fil-A team members nationwide, he demonstrates the ROI potential in creating daily peak moments and challenges audiences to see business as not only an opportunity for monetization but also for "moment-ization." Leaders learn specific techniques for designing experiences customers remember, share, and return for—turning service from a cost center into a competitive advantage.
What is the purpose of great leadership? Is it to accumulate power, claim credit, attract followers, or be the best? Or is it something deeper—creating lasting impact for your organization that transcends you and endures beyond your tenure? In this memorable leadership keynote, David Salyers explores connections between leadership, stewardship, and culture, discussing the idea that each leader's calling is to be a good steward. Using powerful visual examples and concepts from physics, Salyers shares how a leadership mindset focused on service, collaboration, and inspiration creates a wave of positive impact that transforms organizations and potentially the world. Drawing from his 37 years at Chick-fil-A and lessons learned from founder S. Truett Cathy, Salyers challenges leaders to evaluate their legacy not by personal achievement but by the leaders they develop and the culture they leave behind.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking David Salyers
Why David Salyers?
Booking David Salyers for your event means bringing one of the few speakers who can credibly say they helped build one of America's most remarkable brands from the ground up. As one of the original marketing executives at Chick-fil-A and a 37-year veteran who rose to Vice President, Salyers didn't just observe exceptional culture—he helped create it. He was instrumental in developing the iconic cow campaign and building a marketing department that contributed to over 50 consecutive years of sales growth. What makes Salyers particularly valuable is his ability to translate Chick-fil-A's success into actionable principles any organization can apply: creating raving fans instead of transactional customers, building purpose beyond profit, designing peak customer experiences, and leading with servant-hearted values. Organizations working with Aurum Speakers Bureau to book David Salyers gain a speaker who combines marketing genius, cultural wisdom, and storytelling ability—delivering keynotes that inspire immediate change while providing frameworks leaders can implement the next day.
What is the "Eat Mor Chikin" cow campaign?
The Chick-fil-A cow campaign—featuring renegade cows holding signs urging people to "Eat Mor Chikin"—is one of the most successful and enduring advertising campaigns in American business history. Launched in the mid-1990s and championed by David Salyers over two decades, the campaign became far more than clever advertising. The cows became cultural icons, appearing on billboards, in television commercials, on merchandise, and in restaurant experiences nationwide. What made the campaign remarkable was its humor, consistency, and emotional connection—qualities that transformed casual customers into brand advocates. The campaign didn't just drive sales; it created a relationship between customers and the brand based on shared values of fun, quality, and care. Salyers' work on the cow campaign demonstrates his understanding that great marketing creates meaning and connection, not just awareness.
What does it mean to create "raving fans" instead of customers?
David Salyers teaches that truly remarkable organizations don't focus primarily on increasing sales—they focus on creating raving fans. Raving fans are customers who exhibit three behaviors: they happily pay full price without seeking discounts, they visit or engage more frequently than typical customers, and they voluntarily tell others about the organization. This approach represents a fundamental shift from transactional thinking to relationship building. Rather than extracting maximum value from each customer interaction, remarkable organizations create so much value that customers become evangelists. Chick-fil-A's success—including industry-leading customer satisfaction scores and organic word-of-mouth growth—demonstrates this principle in action. Salyers shows organizations how shifting focus from short-term revenue extraction to long-term value creation generates sustainable competitive advantage, stronger margins, and growth fueled by customer advocacy rather than expensive advertising.
What topics does corporate culture speaker David Salyers cover?
David Salyers delivers keynotes on building remarkable organizational culture that drives business results; creating customer experiences that generate loyalty and advocacy; developing purpose-driven brands that transcend transactions; servant leadership principles and their impact on retention and performance; designing "peak moments" in customer service; transforming marketing from promotion to meaning-making; and leadership as stewardship. His signature talks include "Remarkable"—exploring how shifting from extracting value to creating value transforms organizations; "Spark a Revolution"—teaching the principles behind creating raving fans; "Meaningful"—showing how attaching purpose to products multiplies value; and "Remarkable Hospitality"—challenging organizations to create memorable positive experiences rather than merely fixing problems. Salyers tailors content for leadership teams, sales organizations, customer experience professionals, and entrepreneurs seeking to build cultures and brands that endure. Aurum Speakers Bureau works with organizations worldwide to bring David Salyers' Chick-fil-A-tested insights to conferences, corporate events, and leadership development programs.
How to book David Salyers as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book David Salyers as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about David Salyers's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for David Salyers or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is David Salyers speaking fee?
David Salyers speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire David Salyers to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book David Salyers.
How can I contact David Salyers?
We only work with David Salyers on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking David Salyers and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having David Salyers speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact David Salyers for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book David Salyers for a virtual keynote?
Yes, David Salyers is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book David Salyers for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
