Francesca Cardarelli: Leaving It Better Than We Found It

Francesca Cardarelli is an established executive in the food and beverage industry, widely recognized for driving high-impact business strategies and creative marketing programs that grow market share and elevate brand recognition. 

As the Global Lead for Media and Digital Transformation, Francesca is currently establishing the “Future of Marketing” for McDonald’s globally.

Since joining McDonald’s in 2021, Francesca has held several senior leadership roles across the Canadian business, including Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Strategy and Insights. During her tenure in Canada, she led the launch of the MyMcDonald’s Rewards loyalty program, developed numerous Effie Award-winning campaigns, and elevated data- and analytics-led strategic planning to advance enterprise decision-making.

Prior to her leadership at McDonald’s, Francesca built a stellar reputation for balancing commercial results with creative excellence and agency transformation through key roles at Starbucks, Jamieson Vitamins, and PepsiCo Foods.

Francesca’s passion for growth extends beyond corporate strategy and into people, with a dedicated focus on talent development and mentoring the next generation of marketing leaders. She is an active member of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Marketing Management Advisory Council, has served for three years on the National Board of Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada, and is a proud founding member of the Goodman Legacy Council.

What led you to choose Brock University and the Goodman School of Business?

I grew up in the Greater Toronto Area and initially set my sights elsewhere. In high school, I was a highly competitive soccer player, so I was focused on universities where I could either play at a high level or join my closest friends. Brock was on my list, but it wasn’t my first choice, or second or third… until a single phone call changed my entire trajectory.

Brock was running a student-calls-student program, and one evening, my mom nudged me to take the call. I grunted and planned for a polite five-minute conversation, but I ended up staying on the line for 45 minutes. The student on the other end spoke about her experiences with such conviction, sophistication, and real-world clarity that it completely dismantled what I thought I knew about the school. She shared her experience working in co-op roles at major Canadian corporations, proving that top-tier companies were actively recruiting Brock talent.

The strength of that co-op program paired with smaller classes and a true community experience sealed the deal for me. The practical reality of getting hands-on corporate experience and making money while getting my degree and building relationships with professors along the way was very compelling! I hung up the phone, walked back to the dinner table, and told my family: “Okay, I’m going to Brock.” It remains one of the smartest decisions of my life.

What are your fondest memories or most formative experiences from your time at Brock?

My time at Brock was filled with meeting lifelong friends, many great nights out, and diving headfirst into student councils and case competitions. Business case competitions were like “adult camp”: you travelled, competed under pressure, and built lifelong professional networks and friends over a few drinks. In fact, when I eventually started my career at PepsiCo, I already knew several of the other new hires because we had competed against each other as students.

One of my proudest achievements was sitting on the committee that brought the Business student levy to life. We built an entire grassroots campaign, posters, hallway pitches, and a full 360-degree marketing rollout on a shoestring budget. Our goal was to convince business students to voluntarily increase their tuition to fund clubs, student resources, and case competition teams. We won the vote. Brock students have always been a passionate group!

Leaving the school better resourced than we found it was incredibly rewarding. That experience taught me that Brock is unique: it’s small enough to foster deep, genuine relationships, but big enough to give you the platform to create lasting, systemic change. You are never just a number in a lecture hall.

What academic decisions or programs at Brock had the greatest influence on your career path?

Choosing to double-major in Marketing and Finance was a defining pivot for me. At the time, very few students pursued that split major. But I knew early on that I wanted to differentiate myself as a marketer who could also navigate a balance sheet. I wanted to understand how P&Ls worked so that my creative marketing decisions would always be grounded in hard commercial realities.

My co-op placements proved invaluable in shaping this mindset. My first placement was in purchasing at Canadian Tire, which I absolutely loved. To challenge myself, I took a 16-month finance reconciliation internship at Hydro One. Within three weeks, I realized I did not want a career in reconciliation —but instead of resenting the placement, I focused on what I could extract from it. I learned how to build perseverance, strengthen my analytics skills, and find creative ways to bring those skills back into my marketing career.

Additionally, the caliber of guest speakers at Brock made the business world feel tangible. Hearing leaders like Galen Weston or the former president of Tim Hortons break down massive commercial decisions demystified executive leadership. It showed me that real, highly strategic careers were waiting for us on the other side of graduation.

You’ve mentioned feeling underestimated early in your career. How did you navigate that and become “undeniable”?

When I graduated, the rigorous recruitment process at PepsiCo Foods had over 500 applicants competing for just two marketing roles. After a gruelling three-day evaluation process, I landed the job.

Initially, the head of HR referred to me as “the badger” with a tone that suggested surprise that they had hired someone from Brock. Rather than letting that diminish my confidence, I let my work do the talking. Within a year, the tone shifted completely. He would point across the room and say, “Oh, that’s my badger over there, figuring things out.” Shortly after, Brock was officially added to Pepsi’s permanent campus recruitment cycle.

When you enter the corporate world as a Goodman graduate, you sometimes encounter perceptions that we aren’t earning our seat. My advice is simple: prove them wrong. Show up, do exceptional work, let your commercial results speak for themselves. There is nothing more undeniable than excellent execution.

Why is supporting the Goodman Legacy Council so important to you, and what does legacy mean to you now?

Brock is the place that shaped my foundation. I wouldn’t have had the internships that launched my corporate career without it, and I want to ensure the university gets the recognition and resources it deserves.

When I joined the Goodman Legacy Council, it was an incredibly eye-opening moment. If I’m being honest, I had spent years thinking I was a “Brock exception” because of the global brands I was leading. But sitting around the table with the other council members, I realized: we all did it. Goodman graduates are quietly and not so quietly running major corporate functions, driving massive strategies, and leading industries globally.

During our careers, many of us climbed those ladders individually, relying on sheer determination without realizing how many of our fellow alumni were doing the same thing in neighbouring offices. We are building the Goodman Legacy initiative to change that. By uniting our alumni, expanding our ambassador network, and funding a $2 million transformational capital fund (which has already raised $765,000), we are making that collective strength visible.

What we’re doing today on the Council isn’t actually that different from what we did in a campus boardroom at 10:00 p.m. It’s about organizing, building resources, and opening doors so that the next generation of Goodman grads doesn’t just hope they belong in the room—they walk in knowing they do.