Mr. Lopdrup is President of Red Lobster and Senior Vice President of Darden Restaurants. He oversees a company of more than 680 restaurants, 63,000 employees and $2.5 billion in annual sales.

He joined Darden Restaurants in November 2003 as Executive Vice President of Marketing for Red Lobster and was named President in May 2004. He has been in the restaurant industry since 1985 and has extensive operations, marketing and brand management experience. He was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, North America, for Burger King Corporation. He led that company's 8,500 North American restaurants to record guest satisfaction scores in both company-owned and franchised restaurants while turning around declining same-store sales.

Before Burger King, Mr. Lopdrup spent 16 years with Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants, the parent of Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin-Robbins and Togo's. He turned around Dunkin' Donuts' previously-declining coffee business as that brand's Product Marketing Manager for Beverages. Later, as Vice President of Marketing, he managed Dunkin's hugely successful "Time to make the Donuts" ad campaign starring Fred the Baker. As Chief Executive Officer of Allied Domecq's 3,500-unit international division, he took that business from record loses to record profits and dramatically accelerated its growth.

Mr. Lopdrup began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble, working on brands such as Folgers Coffee and Citrus Hill Orange Juice.

He is currently a Director of Wawa, one of the premier operators in the convenience store industry. He is also a Board Member for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida.

He holds a Bachelor's in Business Administration from the College of William and Mary and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.