Charlee Williamson

Executive Vice President

In 1987, Charlee Williamson began her foodservice career working at TCBY yogurt working hard and having fun for $3.35 an hour. In less than a year, she was on top of the industry with a “junior supervisor” title, a $3.85 / hour payday, and an ‘employee of the month’ accolade.

Following her brilliant career as a summer yogurt slinger and in an effort to appease her parents into letting her stay in her college town of Austin for the summer, Charlee took a job as a hostess at the Austin Embassy Suites Plaza Grill restaurant.

After college, Charlee followed her heart back to New Orleans and began work for Ralph Brennan as a marketing manager at BACCO and Mr. B’s Bistro. As the first person to hold the newly create role, Charlee pioneered the position, accepting early responsibility and wearing a lot of hats – a finely honed skill she still practices today.

Charlee’s role expanded as Ralph’s company grew to include Red Fish Grill, a casual seafood restaurant on Bourbon Street, Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen at the Disneyland Resort in southern California, and Ralph’s on the Park, a fine dining restaurant in Mid-City New Orleans across from City Park.

A seventeen-year veteran of the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, today Charlee serves as Vice President of Marketing and Executive Vice President for the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group.

Her marketing responsibilities include conceptualizing strategic marketing plans, formulating key messages and creative concepts, and innovating and executing new business development strategies. She acts as a corporate spokesperson for consumer, community and media relations and recently produced Ralph Brennan’s New Orleans Seafood Cookbook, named Best Cookbook of 2008 by New Orleans Magazine and a top 10 Cookbook of 2008 by the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Examiner.

Charlee’s corporate responsibilities include oversight of the California-based Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, the spearheading of performance improvement initiatives including new concept development, revenue growth, and cost control strategies, plus strategic planning and goal setting for company concepts and managers.

In her spare time, Charlee serves on the Board of Directors for the National Restaurant Association’s Marketing Executives Group, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Junior League of New Orleans and on the Board of Directors for the Preservation Resource Center, a local organization that promotes preservation, restoration and revitalization of New Orleans’ historic architecture and neighborhoods.

Charlee was born and raised in New Orleans. She has a B.S. in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.B.A. from Tulane University.