Carol Welch, Managing Director UK&I – ODEON Cinema Group

Carol is Managing Director UK&I at ODEON Cinema Group.

Prior to this Carol was Group Marketing and Innovation Director for Costa, Whitbread. She joined in 2013 as the first marketer on the Group board, and oversaw marketing, digital, innovation, corporate communications and CSR across 30+ markets where Costa has equity stores, Franchise relationships, and Costa Express partnerships.

Previously, Carol worked at Associated British Foods, where she was part of the team that acquired, integrated and turned around the Jordans and Ryvita businesses. During this time, she was responsible for Marketing, R&D, contract manufacturing and commercial leadership teams, alongside laying foundations for Dorset cereals acquisition. She was also an NED for Conservation Grade, a charitable farming standard.

Prior to this, Carol was Global Innovation Director on the Global Leadership Board at Cadbury Schweppes, having held increasingly senior Marketing and Innovation roles. During this time, she delivered growth on brands including Green and Blacks, Cadbury, Trident, Trebor, Snapple and 7UP across markets as diverse as the UK, US, Benelux, India and Australia.

Carol started her career at PepsiCo, where she worked across Europe after starting as a graduate at Walkers in the UK. Having worked her way up the UK marketing team, her most notable achievements are origination of the Lineker Campaign and innovative in pack promotions that contributed to the significant growth of Walkers.

Carol now juggles international travel with family and two sports mad sons, running when she can to stay sane.