Katie Ceclan serves as senior director of marketing for Frito-Lay North America, where she leads the company’s multi-billion-dollar Lay’s portfolio – encompassing Lay’s Poppables, Lay’s Kettle Cooked, and Lay’s Stax as the number one snack brand in the world.
Since taking on this role in October 2018, Katie launched Lay’s Turn Up the Flavor, a flavor-meets-music program in partnership with NBC’s The Voice and Grammy nominated artist Bebe Rexha. She also led the Lay’s “Smiles” campaign that transformed the brand’s packaging to spotlight 31 ordinary people doing extraordinary things in their community, strengthening the brand’s commitment to inspire smiles with added augmented reality features on-pack and a continued million-dollar commitment to Operation Smile. Most recently, she oversaw Lay’s first packaging redesign in 12 years, supported by a 360 creative campaign that includes advertising, out-of-home, and multiple consumer engagement initiatives.
Prior to her current role on the Lay’s brand, Katie spent her first six years at Frito-Lay North America playing key leadership roles in the company’s innovation and emerging platforms, including launching the Stacy’s Rise Project to empower culinary leaders and female entrepreneurs and accelerating the company’s health-focused and wellness-minded snack portfolio.
Throughout her career, Katie has held a variety of roles at top companies such as PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Yum! Brands and Verizon, working across multi-billion-dollar P&Ls, business turnarounds and emerging brands. She has deep expertise in consumer marketing, brand building, brand positioning, iconic design, innovation strategy, new product and package development, integrated advertising campaigns, media planning, omni-channel sales, retail management and general management. As such, Katie has been recognized throughout her career with a number of industry awards and honors, including Cannes Lions, the Procter & Gamble Company Execution Award, Product of the Year and Most Awarded Brand by magazines such as Marie Claire and InStyle.
Katie holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University, as well as an MBA from Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business, and has a passion for mentoring the next generation of marketing/business leaders. Originally from Raleigh, she now resides in Dallas, where outside of work she enjoys spending time with family, playing tennis, traveling, and exploring new coffee spots.