What Happened?

About the Company

Darden is a premier full-service restaurant company featuring a portfolio of category-leading brands that include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s and Yard House. Each of our brands enjoys industry-leading average unit volumes that together generate $6.8 billion in annual sales across more than 1,500 company-owned and operated locations. Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., Darden employs 150,000 team members who serve more than 320 million meals annually.

About the Person

Patti Reilly White was named Senior Vice President and Chief Information  Officer of Darden Restaurants in October 2007. She oversees information  and data integrity for Darden as well as all information services and  technology functions. Her organization is responsible for providing IT  strategy, portfolio management, development and support of business and  finance information processing, computer services, network  communications, and management information services to accomplish  corporate goals and objectives.    Darden owns and operates more than 2,100 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse,  Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s and Yard House restaurants in North  America, employing more than 200,000 people and serving more than 425 million meals annually. In  fiscal 2013, the company recorded more than $8.5 billion in sales. In 2014, Darden was named to the  FORTUNE “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for the fourth year in a row.    Patti joined Darden in 1988 as Project Leader of Point of Sale Systems. She subsequently held the  positions of Manager of Restaurant Systems, Director of Data Center Operations and Director of  Systems Development. In 1998, she was promoted to Vice President of Restaurant Systems.    In 2002, Patti pursued an opportunity to be Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer for RTM  Restaurant Group where she was a member of the Executive Team. She returned to Darden in  2004 as Vice President of Restaurant Systems where she spearheaded the strategic planning,  development and implementation of Darden’s next generation Point of Service system which  broadened the view from traditional Point of Sale to providing the foundation for future business  building innovations to enhance the guest experience. Patti was promoted to Senior Vice President  of Information Technology in 2006.    Prior to joining Darden, Patti was a Manager Consultant with Price Waterhouse.    Patti received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting Information Systems from the University of West  Florida.