That strategy came into sharper focus with WFF’s newly announced partnership with Culture Partners, the consultancy behind The Oz Principle and the 2026 USA Today bestseller Surrender to Lead. The collaboration will give WFF’s 8,000-plus members access to culture and accountability concepts that traditionally have been concentrated in executive suites, senior leadership retreats and corporate transformation programs. “At brands like Chili’s, Red Lobster and Denny’s, I saw firsthand that culture is not separate from business results,” Valade said. “Culture Partners thinks the way we think, and their tools have a track record.”
For Valade, the partnership reflects both her own career journey and the direction she sees for WFF. She began working in restaurants at 16 at a T.J.’s Big Boy in Syracuse, New York, and said the experience taught her that restaurants were about far more than serving meals. They were places where people built friendships, found community and felt connected. That philosophy remained with her through senior leadership roles at Brinker International and later CEO assignments with Black Box Intelligence, Red Lobster and Denny’s.
Her move to WFF also brought Valade back to an organization that had been part of her professional life for nearly three decades. She first attended a WFF conference early in her career, when the organization was still a relatively small gathering. Over time, she watched it grow into a major industry leadership platform with sophisticated development tracks, corporate participation and a network that reaches across the foodservice community. “It was a full-circle moment,” Valade noted. “Thanks to the women who started WFF, 37 years later it has become this powerhouse with a profoundly strong curriculum tied to incredible experiences.”
That history matters because WFF’s mission remains unfinished. Valade pointed to industry data showing that women represent roughly 35 percent of C-suite positions among the top restaurant companies, while only about 10 percent hold CEO roles. She said data stretching back to 2016 showed relatively little movement in some of the critical measures WFF tracks.
“We are stalled,” Valade continued. “I have data from 2016 that looks the same as the data in 2026.”
For restaurant companies, distributors, manufacturers and other foodservice employers, that creates both a challenge and an opportunity. WFF’s work is increasingly focused not simply on networking, but on creating development pathways that help companies identify, prepare and retain talent before promising leaders encounter what Valade described as the “broken rung” in the leadership ladder.
Valade said WFF’s emerging leader, emerging executive and executive tracks give members relevant development opportunities based on where they are in their careers. She also sees an opportunity to continue refreshing those tracks with subjects that reflect today’s operating environment, including artificial intelligence, financial literacy, P&L knowledge, crisis management and emotional intelligence. “We’re not only going to protect those tracks, but integrate curriculum and new approaches around AI, P&L training and the things leaders need today,” Valade detailed.
The Culture Partners collaboration fits squarely into that strategy. Its first major activation will come this fall through Lead from Who You Are, WFF’s Leadership Development Workshop series. The one-day programs will be held across six cities at host companies within the industry and will combine WFF’s understanding of foodservice leadership with Culture Partners’ frameworks. The curriculum is designed to help participants identify underused strengths, confront limiting beliefs and create behaviors that can generate more sustainable business results. “What we’re making available to our members is the kind of development that actually changes how leaders grow everyday,” Valade outlined. “Lead from Who You Are is only the beginning.”
The business case goes beyond individual career development. Culture Partners’ methodology is built around the premise that organizational culture is created through the ways people think and act, and that purpose, strategy and accountability ultimately need to show up in everyday decisions. For foodservice organizations dealing with tighter margins, shifting workforce expectations, leadership turnover and increasingly complex technology, WFF believes those skills can have a direct impact on performance. “Everything I loved about HR was really about getting people aligned around making a difference in the business and having an impact on business results,” Valade stated.
That combination of people and performance has long been a theme in Valade’s career. At Brinker International, where she spent 22 years, she moved from Senior Vice President of Human Resources into the COO role at Chili’s during the 2008-09 financial crisis. Valade recalled being told that she already understood leadership and could learn the P&L, an experience that shaped her belief that companies should look beyond conventional résumés when developing their future executives. “We know you understand leadership. We know people will follow you. You just have to learn the P&L,” Valade explained of the message she received at the time. “That gave me permission to bring what I knew about leadership directly into operations.”
That lesson has become increasingly relevant as restaurant companies search for the next generation of CEOs and senior executives. Valade believes current leadership turnover and business uncertainty could create openings for candidates whose backgrounds do not necessarily follow the traditional route to the corner office.
WFF also sees sponsorship and advocacy as essential parts of that process. Valade noted that professionals with both sponsors and mentors generally have a stronger opportunity to advance, making the organization’s network of executives, corporate partners, board members and peers an important complement to formal education. “If we can get past 10 percent to something more meaningful in terms of representation, we need to think about how we move people who are already in the C-suite into that lead role,” Valade commented.
The need for those relationships may be even greater as technology changes how companies operate. Valade said artificial intelligence will undoubtedly transform restaurant and foodservice businesses, but she does not believe it diminishes the importance of distinctly human leadership skills. “AI can do a lot of things, but it cannot replace compassion and true empathy or create the kind of space where people feel seen and fully known,” Valade observed.
That thinking was reinforced for Valade at WFF’s recent leadership conference. She saw common themes around empathy, purpose, vulnerability, crisis leadership and intentional management, all while attendees were also exploring subjects such as AI and business disruption. “We’ve got to double down on our curriculum,” Valade shared. “We have a profoundly strong, differentiated leadership curriculum, and I want to keep advancing it so people say, ‘I can’t get this content anywhere else.’”
Valade also wants WFF to become less episodic. While its annual conference remains the centerpiece, her vision is for members to interact with WFF throughout the year through virtual learning, webinars, author programs, workshops and more locally based opportunities. One recent Exchange Network webinar drew approximately 900 participants, illustrating the appetite for ongoing engagement. “It needs to be all year long and all career long,” Valade emphasized. “I want to make sure there’s connectivity throughout the year so it’s not episodic. It’s continual.”
For employers, that creates a resource that can complement internal development programs while exposing team members to ideas, relationships and mentors outside their own organizations. “The community is the biggest thing,” Valade indicated. “This is a community that has been part of my life for almost 30 years, and it has opened doors for me.”
That sense of community may ultimately be one of WFF’s strongest advantages. Members can participate whether they are early in their careers, moving into management, preparing for executive responsibility or already occupying the C-suite. The goal is to meet professionals where they are while helping employers create a stronger pipeline of people equipped to lead through the industry’s next wave of change. “It doesn’t matter if you’re early in your career, in the middle of your career or an executive,” Valade pointed out. “Find a way to connect with us. Conference is the big one, but there are all sorts of things happening year-round.”
For restaurant and industry professionals interested in WFF’s leadership development programs, Culture Partners workshops, conference opportunities or membership, information is available through WFF’s website (wff.org) and social channels. The organization’s broader message is that leadership development cannot begin only after someone reaches the executive suite; it needs to start earlier, remain relevant throughout a career and connect people with a community willing to help them advance. “Get involved. Find us. We want you to be a part of it,” Valade concluded. “It’s an amazing community.”
