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Damola Adamolekun

Red Lobster CEO

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About the speaker

Damola Adamolekun is a globally recognized business leader and dynamic speaker whose journey from Nigeria to the boardrooms of America embodies resilience, excellence, and bold leadership.

At just 37 years old, Damola is the Chief Executive Officer of Red Lobster, the world’s largest seafood restaurant... More

Damola Adamolekun is a globally recognized business leader and dynamic speaker whose journey from Nigeria to the boardrooms of America embodies resilience, excellence, and bold leadership.

At just 37 years old, Damola is the Chief Executive Officer of Red Lobster, the world’s largest seafood restaurant company, where he leads the iconic brand’s transformation for a new generation. He is the youngest CEO in Red Lobster’s history and was previously the youngest CEO in the history of P.F. Chang’s, where he steered the company through the pandemic and revitalized one of America’s most beloved Asian dining brands.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential executives of his generation, Damola was named to Fortune’s “100 Most Powerful People in Business” and has been featured by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, and the Harvard Business Review, among others.

Born in Nigeria and raised across Africa, Europe, and the United States, Damola’s story is one of grit, global perspective, and relentless pursuit of excellence. His journey—from Ivy League football fields to Wall Street trading floors to the C-suites of billion-dollar companies—fuels his belief that success is built on discipline, action, and the habit of excellence.

As a speaker, Damola is known for his dynamic, high-energy delivery and transformative insights on leadership, innovation, and perseverance. Whether addressing corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, or students, he challenges audiences to think bigger, move faster, and lead with clarity and conviction.

Before joining Red Lobster, Damola was a Partner at Paulson & Co., where he led several of the firm’s largest investments, and later served as CEO and Director of P.F. Chang’s. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in investment banking and later at TPG Capital in private equity.

Damola has been honored with multiple GLOBEE Leadership Awards, including CEO of the Year: Food & Beverage and Transformational Leader of the Year, as well as inclusion on Nation’s Restaurant News’ Power List and the EBONY Power 100.

A graduate of Brown University, where he studied Economics and Political Science and played on the Ivy League Champion football team, Damola also earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Damola shares his message of purpose, discipline, and transformation with audiences around the world—showing that greatness isn’t inherited, it’s built through action

Sample Session Topics

The Turnaround Mindset: Reinventing Iconic Brands and Leading Through Change
How do you breathe new life into an iconic brand while navigating uncertainty and evolving consumer expectations? As the CEO of Red Lobster and former CEO of P.F. Chang’s, Damola Adamolekun has confronted some of the most complex challenges facing the restaurant industry. In this conversation, Damola shares an inside look at the realities of leading established businesses through pivotal moments, balancing legacy with innovation, making difficult decisions, and building a vision for the future. The discussion explores what business transformation really requires and how leaders can identify opportunity when the stakes are highest.

The CEO Mindset: Leadership, Culture, and the Power of Accountability
What separates good leaders from great ones? Having become the youngest CEO in the histories of both P.F. Chang’s and Red Lobster, Damola Adamolekun brings a distinctive perspective on leadership, accountability, and organizational culture. In this conversation, Damola reflects on his evolution from investor to operator, the lessons he’s learned managing large organizations, and the importance of building trust and empowering teams. The discussion explores how leadership styles shape company culture, why communication matters during periods of change, and what it takes to lead with confidence and conviction.

Red Carpet Hospitality: Rethinking the Customer Experience
What does it take to create a customer experience that keeps people coming back? With leadership experience leading two of America’s most recognizable restaurant brands, Damola Adamolekun has a firsthand perspective on the relationship between hospitality, company culture, and business performance. In this conversation, Damola discusses the evolving expectations of today’s consumers, the importance of investing in employees, and the challenges of creating meaningful experiences at scale. Drawing on his work at P.F. Chang’s and Red Lobster, the discussion explores how businesses can honor what customers already love while finding new ways to connect with the next generation.

Built, Not Born: A Conversation on Discipline, Ambition, and Excellence
What does it really take to achieve extraordinary success? From his upbringing across three continents to the trading floors of Wall Street and the boardrooms of some of America’s most recognizable brands, Damola Adamolekun has built an unconventional career defined by ambition, discipline, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. In this candid conversation, Damola reflects on the experiences, decisions, and habits that shaped his journey, the role of resilience in overcoming challenges, and what it means to pursue greatness in an increasingly competitive world.

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