Mary Dillon

Business speaker Mary Dillon is a consumer and retail executive known for leading brand-driven companies through growth, reinvention, and periods of structural change. She most recently served as CEO of Foot Locker, where she led the athletic retail specialist through a multi-year transformation focused on sharpening brand positioning, modernizing the customer experience, and navigating a fast-shifting marketplace shaped by digital disruption and evolving relationships with major footwear brands, until the company’s $2.4 billion acquisition by Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Previously, Dillon was CEO of Ulta Beauty, where she led the company from 2013 to 2021 and helped scale it into a category-defining specialty retailer. During her tenure, Ulta expanded its national footprint, strengthened its loyalty ecosystem, and integrated digital capabilities and in-store experience in a way that reinforced differentiation and customer relevance. Her leadership is frequently cited as an example of how culture, clarity of strategy, and disciplined execution can drive durable performance in consumer businesses.

Earlier in her career, Dillon served as Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at McDonald’s, helping shape global marketing strategy and brand development for one of the world’s most recognized consumer brands. She later became President and CEO of U.S. Cellular, bringing a customer-led approach to a large, operationally complex organization in a highly competitive sector. She also held senior leadership roles at PepsiCo, including leading the Quaker Foods division, building a career that spans consumer packaged goods, restaurants, telecom, beauty, and retail.

Today, Dillon is a board director and advisor to senior leaders, with a reputation for combining strategic focus with practical operating rigor. She is especially valued for her insights on customer-centric transformation, leadership at scale, and building organizations that can execute consistently while adapting quickly to change.

As a speaker, Mary Dillon is direct, practical, and highly relevant to leadership teams navigating disruption. She speaks about customer-led transformation, brand strategy, and omnichannel execution, as well as how to build cultures that perform under pressure. Her talks draw on real-world experience leading large organizations, offering clear frameworks and decision points that help audiences translate strategy into action.