Most recently, Abou Habib served as vice president of national marketing at Sonic. Prior to joining the drive-in chain, she served as regional marketing manager for CKE Restaurants, Inc. and as senior marketing manager for Eateries, Inc.
“I am delighted to elevate Lori to chief marketing officer; she is a talented, strong leader who enjoys the respect of our franchisees and won the position through a highly competitive national search,” said Cliff Hudson, CEO of Sonic Corp.
Darin Dugan will join Sonic to replace Abou Habib as vice president of national marketing. Dugan has 20 years of experience in food and beverage marketing including working for Kraft for 16 years and most recently serving as senior vice president of marketing and culinary for Applebee’s.
In addition, Kim Lewis will join the company as vice president of digital strategies. Lewis has had a 15-year career in digital and e-commerce, and will lead Sonic’s digital strategy, integrated marketing communications and customer relationship management (CRM) in her new role.
“We were very pleased with the caliber of candidates discovered during the search and are pleased for Darin and Kim to join the team,” Hudson said. “The decades of experience these three leaders share will propel the business and the brand forward for many years to come.”
Sonic is continuing to recruit for a chief brand officer.