Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF) announced that its board of directors has selected Hattie Hill as the organization's next president and chief executive officer, effective June 1.

Hill is an international leadership development expert, business owner, best-selling author, and thought leader. Over her more than 30 years as the CEO of Hattie Hill Enterprises Inc, her organization provided leadership development for thousands of senior leaders at numerous Fortune 500 companies and major organizations throughout North America and 51 countries, including such foodservice companies as McDonald's, Frito-Lay, Aramark, and Compass.

"We chose Hattie because of her extensive knowledge of the foodservice industry and her proven track record of creating and leading world-class, customized executive leadership development programs," says Susan Gambardella, WFF board of directors chair and vice president of Global Account Team for Coca-Cola Refreshments. "Hattie shares our passion for preparing a pipeline of talent to increase gender representation in the executive ranks of foodservice companies from 15 percent to 30 percent."

Her experience with WFF includes serving as an executive consultant to the board, member of the board of directors for the past six years, and interim CEO. As an executive consultant to WFF, she has provided business strategy and oversight related to risk assessment, revenue, and operations, as well as spearheaded the creation and implementation of WFF's Global Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. In late 2013, she took on the role of WFF CEO, on an interim basis.

"I am honored to have the opportunity to lead such an exceptional organization that has a clear and focused mission of changing the face of leadership in the foodservice industry and making it the industry of choice for women seeking opportunity and career advancement," Hill says.  "As we prepare for the next chapter in the organization's 25 year history, our goal is to help open more doors for the advancement of women and create better equity in the leadership ranks of this $683 billion industry."

The foodservice industry is the second largest private sector employer in the U.S. and employs one in 10 people.