Kevin Mayer

BA 1991, Communication
MBA 2003, Anderson Graduate School of Management, University of California 

Executive Vice President and Chief Growth & Brand Officer
BJ’s Restaurants and Brewhouse, Inc .

Kevin is Executive Vice President and Chief Growth & Brand Officer at BJ’s Restaurants Inc. Over the last seven years, he and his team have been instrumental in the widely recognized transformation of the BJ’s Restaurants & Brewhouse Brand from a regional casual dining player to a nationally recognized lifestyle Brand with a loyal following across 29 states and 210+ locations.

As CGBO, Kevin oversees all aspects of BJ’s Brand Management, Marketing Communications, Customer Data & Insights, Culinary & Beverage Innovation, Loyalty, Digital Platforms, Earned Media, Menu Development, Subscription Services and Cross-functional Growth Initiatives.

With Kevin’s leadership, BJ’s has revolutionized the marketing and organizational culture to be Guest-centric to drive true emotive connection through a unique, differentiated experience and develop legitimate ambassadors for the Brand. To do so, he overhauled BJ’s marketing strategy and capabilities, developed a “Customer 360” for real-time behavioral insights, implemented a Brand Strategy used to define every aspect of BJ’s decision making, created a more emotive messaging strategy and launched new revenue initiatives such as BJ’s Beer Club, Off-Premise Delivery and Catering. These efforts have led to numerous successful product launches and record levels of Brand Awareness, Familiarity and Brand Love. Most importantly, BJ’s had a run of 11 straight quarters of category-leading positive comp sales growth and a record sales year in 2018. Because of his team’s diligence and creativity, his Full-Service Restaurant peers recognized Kevin as the category’s “Marketing Maven” of 2021.

Prior to joining BJ’s, Kevin built his reputation on applying a thirst for true brand differentiation, consumer connection and technology to drive brands forward to acclaimed success. As VP, Marketing at Volkswagen of America, Kevin was instrumental in reviving Volkswagen’s brand presence and vehicle sales while driving double-digit growth and was awarded Adweek’s “Brand Genius” for the automotive category in 2013.

Kevin has also held key roles for other brands during strong growth periods including leading Global Advertising for Chevrolet, U.S. Marketing for Subaru and Advertising for Hyundai USA. Hyundai’s ten-year warranty strategy, Subaru’s “LOVE” campaign and Chevrolet’s global shift to emotive advertising all came to fruition under his guidance. In doing so, Kevin’s teams have won four (4) “Effies” and was named Automotive Marketing Team of the Year in 2010. Kevin began his career on the agency side working for numerous global networks with clients in the categories of CPG, Entertainment and Automotive.

Kevin holds a B.A. in Communications from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management with a focus on Marketing Science. Kevin served on Purdue’s Deans Advisory Council for the College of Liberal Arts and currently sits on ThinkLA’s Board of Directors. Kevin currently resides in Southern California with his wife Lesley and their two children.