When Kathleen Held CPSM first found out she was to be named Consultant of the Year at the 2025 FE&S Top Achievers Awards, she was was caught a little off guard. “Joe [Carbonara, editor in chief of FE&S] called me up and I honestly thought he was punking me. I said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’m not a consultant!’ I haven’t paid my dues into the industry yet,” she laughs. Yet Held very evidently has paid her dues. The CEO and president of Cini-Little International, Inc. since 2020, having joined full-time in 1995, she is also president of the FCSI Educational Foundation (FCSI EF) and has served on FCSI The Americas boards and conference planning committees since 2022.
But it’s true that the path to her leading one of the world’s largest and most diverse foodservice consultancies has not been a traditional one. Typically, those roles go to seasoned design consultants – and in an industry that remains top-heavy with male CEOs and board members, Held’s unorthodox ascendancy is all the more impressive. How has she achieved this? Via strategic thinking that harnesses the power of storytelling, and with a people-first mindset that has shaped her leadership style. Plus, an unerring focus on elevating others and mentoring the next generation.
Finding inspiration
When I was growing up, I had some struggles in school,” she says. A later diagnosis of dyslexia from an “inspirational mentor” – her college English Professor, Dr Judith Pula – helped Held to make sense of why she had not taken to academia initially, but in time things became easier for her. “My brain just figured things out when I reached high school. After that I excelled. I took courses in government and law, but I gravitated towards history. I loved the analytical aspect.”
Held grew up in Frederick County, Maryland. Her father, who passed in 2017, was a firefighter, while her mother was a foodservice equipment dealer before joining Marriott, where she worked in the foodservice design division.
Following an aborted decision to take a degree in marketing – “They needed me to pass an accounting course, but accounting made no sense to me then” – Held studied history and art history at Frostburg State University. “I specialized in military history and strategy, which I think helped me greatly in leadership – understanding that you must learn from different strategic moves, whether they failed or were successful,” she adds. At the end of the first semester of her college freshman term, Held got a Christmas job at her mother’s firm. Her mother had been headhunted 10 years previous by John Cini FFCSI (PP) to be the head of the estimating department for his company. So the young Kathleen was now manning the reception at Cini-Little International, Inc. “My mom decided I needed to experience what working life was like,” she laughs.
By now, Held was already accustomed to meeting industry legends, of course. Alongside Cini, names such as James Little FFCSI (PP), William Eaton FFCSI (PP), Ron Kooser FFCSI (PP), Michael Pantano FFCSI (PP), Theodore “Ted” Farrand FCSI, and Harry Schildkraut FCSI, were brought into her orbit. To work with them was a little different, however. “Those were the people that I was interacting with daily, so it was a little intimidating to be in an office with them. At that point, in the early ‘90s, the men were still wearing threepiece suits every day. John and Bill had a formidable presence, but I admired them and their passion for what we did. I’d watch local clients and reps come to the office and see the reverence they had for them,” she says.
Then, as now, Cini-Little held enormous prestige in the industry. Following the merger of Cini-Grissom Associates and Jim Little’s firm, LFL Consulting Group out of Toronto, Canada, its roster of foodservice design projects included New York’s original World Trade Center and the White House, plus huge projects for Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios Beijing and the Centennial Olympic Stadium, home of the 1996 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Its footprint was already global, with operations in Japan and Australia, and growing apace.
Had she ever considered following her father’s career path instead? “I don’t think firefighter was ever on my radar. I highly respected my dad, though. He retired early because of an injury on the job, but firefighting is a little like foodservice consulting – it’s in your DNA. So, he continued to volunteer for the local fire company.” It is with enormous pride that Held tells me that the eldest of her four “absolutely amazing” sons is a firefighter too.
Back to marketing
When Held joined Cini-Little, her hospitality experience was limited – one summer driving the beer cart around a local golf course. “I mean, it was a great job,” she laughs, “but I had so much to learn.” And learn she did. Subsequent college summers were spent at Cini-Little in the accounting department and other administrative roles. “I did a lot of filing,” says Held. “I worked my way through other departments and when I graduated college I was offered a position as a marketing coordinator. My mom told me under no circumstances was I to accept the position. But I did!”
Held was already smitten by the “real feeling of family and community” at the company. “At that point, the headquarters had at least 30 people working in it. A lot of people were fresh out of college. We had a softball team. I loved it all.”
Her relationship with her mother, who retired in 2004, flourished too. “Up until I got married, we would commute into the office together. We’d have lunch together. It allowed us to form a very close relationship that we still have. I would ask her about what the firm was working on and about foodservice equipment. She was always willing to share her knowledge.”
A unified voice
In 2002, Held shifted away from design marketing, becoming corporate marketing manager and working directly under vice president and later CEO, Diane Dowling, John Cini’s daughter. “My career evolved at that point. I convinced the company to shift away from regional marketers, and unify the marketing under one umbrella, so that we were one voice and one company – not nine little ones.”
Eventually, the marketing and business development for Cini-Little came under Held’s remit. She created the first website for the company and was involved with modifying its brand identity. Marketing has always suited Held’s unique skill set. “At its heart, marketing is storytelling. It’s about weaving stories into something compelling,” she says.
Held became VP of marketing and business development in 2010, before becoming CMO in 2018, then succeeded Dick Eisenbarth FCSI as CEO in May 2020. Although the most senior consultant in consulting firms frequently lands the CEO role, Held maintains that CMOs are now a natural fit for the corner office.
“The experts say the firms of the future will be marketing-led. I am proof of that. Hopefully, I’m doing a good job. I’m always learning,” she says.
“Within the foodservice industry, on the consultancy side, there’s not many of the size of Cini-Little or with the worldwide reach, not only in our projects, but in our people. Kitchen designers probably aren’t the best people to run companies of that size,” she adds. “
We have a great brand in Cini-Little but the reality is we’re not selling a product. The product resides in the talents of the people on our team. So, HR is an important part of running a consulting firm. You need to retain good talent. I am so proud of the people we have at Cini-Little – they should get the credit for our creativity, ideas and the work we do.”
Shifting the narrative
Becoming CEO within months of the outbreak of a global pandemic was no picnic for Held, but it did allow her to “take a different perspective and look at the company through a different lens. I went from being a backseat driver to really being able to make changes.”
Although being a female CEO in a still very male dominated business has had its challenges, she believes that some perspective is required. “On the marketing and business development side, I belong to another association, called the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), which helped me gain my voice in becoming a leader. Unlike foodservice, it is female dominant. At an SMPS event there might be 10 men there out of 300 – which is an interesting contrast.”
But foodservice still needs to level up, says Held, if women are to feel truly validated in senior leadership positions. “I often feel that I’m an imposter, that I’m not capable of being in this role in this industry, because I’m so completely opposite to my predecessors. They were formal and professional. They studied at Cornell… Here I am, this girl from a little country town who went to a small liberal arts university… It can be intimidating,” she adds.
“But, when I do something, it’s because I know it’s right for the company. I’ve had emails from my team telling me how proud they are to work for this firm and for me, and that I inspire them. People I talk to from other companies have told me that they follow my lead. I find that hugely flattering. I talk to [fellow consultancy leaders] like Lenny [Condenzio FCSI] and Tarah [Shroeder FCSI] at Ricca Design Studios, Christine [Guyott FCSI] and Steve [Carlson FCSI] of Rippe Associates and Bob [Doland FCSI] of Jacobs Doland Beer, frequently. They might give me some advice on the foodservice side and offer me an outside perspective. And they might ask me for advice on the business side, which I’m happy to give,” she says.
“There’s enough work for all of us. If we talk to one another as an industry, we can make the improvements that are needed on the business side of foodservice consulting and advocate for one another.”
The FCSI network is one that Held has been happy to connect with since she attended her first FCSI The Americas event in 2016. She joined a TAD conference planning committee, which “embraced and adopted her” immediately. “They introduced me to people, they gave me the lay of the land, and they still do that,” she says. “I love this industry and can’t imagine working in any other. So many memories are tied to food, and we get to create the spaces for those memories,” she adds.
Stoking the fires
This has further motivated Held’s passion to educate and mentor young people on foodservice consulting as a career. Having become president of the FCSI EF she was instrumental in selecting Western Kentucky University to help shape its Foodservice Design Certificate Program, launched in 2024.
“Honestly, it’s one of my greatest sources of pride, being able to give back to the consulting industry,” she says. “When Bill Eaton created the Foundation in 1995, it was his dream to create this certificate. I’m so pleased we were able to make it happen before he passed earlier this year.”
Held is even taking the program herself. “Now, I can see if it’s the right mixture for what we want to do,” she says. “We’re already talking about creating a specific book to be geared more towards the professional studies aspect of it. Being able to talk knowledgeably about the contents will be hugely beneficial too,” she adds.
For Held, the desire to keep learning, improving, and weaving those wonderful stories into something compelling remains undimmed. Those fires burn brightly. It’s in the DNA.
Michael Jones
