Our Management
Dave Pickens Dave Pickens was named President of Red Lobster in June 2011, more than 38 years after beginning his career with Red Lobster as an hourly employee. Dave, who is also a member of Darden Restaurants' Operating Team and Executive Team, leads a company with more than 690 restaurants, 60,000 employees and $2.5 billion in annual sales. Dave's passion and hard work have built a strong career with Darden since he began as a Red Lobster crew member in April 1973. He progressed from Manager Trainee to General Manager, Regional Operations Manager, Director of Operations, and ultimately to a division Senior Vice President for Red Lobster, before joining Olive Garden in 1995 as Senior Vice President of Operations for the Orlando division. He was promoted to Olive Garden's Executive Vice President of Operations in September 1999 and then to President in 2004, a position he held until rejoining Red Lobster in 2011. During his tenure with Olive Garden, Dave improved strategic focus, elevated leadership team effectiveness and enhanced the company's culture to deliver industry leading growth and profitability. His commitment to delivering a competitively superior dining experience to Olive Garden guests led to best-ever guest satisfaction results and industry-leading returns. His leadership played a key role in Olive Garden's ability to accelerate new restaurant growth while maintaining same restaurant excellence. In 2008, Dave was named Operator of the Year by Nation's Restaurant News. He was selected for the honor from among the six chain executives who were chosen by NRN editors as recipients of the Golden Chain Awards which recognize the career achievements of multi-unit foodservice executives. Dave is known for his collaborative work style, his strong commitment to diversity and his ability to develop people, as many employees who have worked with him have gone on to assume broader roles at Darden. Darden is the world's largest full-service restaurant company, which owns and operates 1,800 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 restaurants in North America, and employs approximately 180,000 people who serve 400 million meals annually. Doug Green Doug has a strong track record of success leading Operations teams in three of Darden Restaurants' businesses. Most recently he served as Senior Vice President of Operations for Red Lobster's Heartland and Canada Divisions. Doug began his Darden career in 1997 as Director of Operations for Olive Garden in Chicago. By July of that year, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of the Chicago Division. He joined Darden's New Business team in 2002 as Senior Vice President of Operations, helping select the opening team for Seasons 52 and ensuring the new concept set new standards in operational excellence. Before joining Darden, Doug spent eight years with Pizza Hut where he advanced from District Manager to Vice President of Operations. He then moved to Vice President of Diversity and later to Vice President of Operations Development where he was responsible for implementing operating programs into the company's 8,000 restaurants. Doug earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, and has a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University. Salli Setta Salli joined Red Lobster in April 2005 after serving as Senior Vice President, Culinary and Beverage at Olive Garden for four years. In that role, she led the technical and creative development of Olive Garden’s award-winning menu and wine list, bringing more approachably authentic Italian dishes and extensive selection of wine to Olive Garden guests. In 2003, her culinary team garnered a MenuMaster’s award for “Best Menu Revamp” from Nation’s Restaurant News. In February 2003, Salli received the honor of Restaurant Business’ “Menu Strategist of the Year” in the casual dining industry. That same month, she was named as one of Nation’s Restaurant News’ “Top 50 R&D Culinarians.” Before that, Salli was Vice President of Brand Marketing, managing all local and national marketing and advertising for Olive Garden. She joined Olive Garden in 1990 as a sales promotion assistant and worked in nearly every marketing capacity at the restaurant company. Salli is a 1987 graduate of the University of Central Florida with a degree in Communication. She earned an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology in 1992. Salli is involved with the Women’s Foodservice Forum and participates in Darden Restaurants’ Mentor Program and Diversity Council. Salli lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband Greg and daughter Juliana. She enjoys spending time with her family, working out and reading. Rick Cardenas Most recently, Rick served in the same capacity for LongHorn Steakhouse for nearly three years. Rick started his career with Darden as a Red Lobster hourly employee in 1984. He joined the restaurant support center team in 1992 as an Auditor and took on increasingly more responsible positions. He briefly left the company in 1998 to work for management consulting firms Bain & Company and the Parthenon Group. He returned to Darden three years later as Director of Corporate Development. He also served as Director of Finance and Technology for Seasons 52 and Vice President of Finance and Assistant Controller for Olive Garden. Rick graduated summa cum laude from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Finance & Accounting. He earned an MBA from The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. Darden is the world’s largest full-service restaurant company, which owns and operates 1,800 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 restaurants in North America, and employs approximately 180,000 people who serve more than 400 million meals annually. Roger Bing Roger Bing is Vice President of Seafood Purchasing for Darden Restaurants, the world’s largest casual dining restaurant company. He is responsible for procuring $850 million in goods from 32 countries worldwide and distributing them to more than 1700 restaurants in the United States and Canada. Bing has been instrumental in bringing together Darden’s world-class team of protein suppliers and buyers, who provide all the seafood for the company’s six unique brands: Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52 and The Capital Grille. He joined Darden in 1998 as Director of Seafood Purchasing and helped develop innovative fresh fish sourcing systems and cost-saving inventory controls. Before joining Darden, Bing spent a good part of his career overseas, particularly in Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa. He started his career as an apprentice in protein production and international trading with Union International in London, a $4 billion global protein production corporation. From there he took on positions of increasing responsibility in protein procurement/distribution and became chief operating officer and general manager of a domestic fresh seafood production and live lobster distribution company in New England. Bing received his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science & Natural Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has held numerous leadership positions with significant industry organizations including the National Fishery Institute, the Global Aquaculture Alliance and the International Groundfish Forum. Bing, his wife, Melissa, and their children, Jacquie and Erik, live in Orlando, Florida. He enjoys travel, running and swimming. Diane Psaras Diane is a proven leader with more than 28 years of HR experience in various industries, including 10 years with retail food and beverage. Diane joined Red Lobster in June 2008 from Avery Dennison, a Fortune 500 global leader in pressure-sensitive technology and self-adhesive solutions for consumer products and label materials. She started with Avery in 1994 and held progressively responsible positions leading up to her most recent role as Vice President, HR for the company's Specialty Materials organization. Leading a staff of 28 HR professionals worldwide, Diane drove functional excellence through innovative approaches to HR services and was instrumental in implementing a global talent upgrade and retentions strategy and improved talent acquisition efforts. Prior to Avery, Diane served in HR leadership roles with Kaiser Aluminum and S.Q.S. Properties Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Youngstown State University in Ohio and is certified (SHRM SPHR) human resources professional. |
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