Carla O'Brien
Pennsylvania
Overview
Carla O'Brien is Chief Marketing Officer at Xochitl Tortilla Chips, where she leads all marketing efforts to drive brand growth and market expansion for this premium Mexican-style tortilla chip brand. As a seasoned CPG marketing executive, Carla specializes in early to mid-stage startups ($5-50M revenue). She also serves as a fractional CMO and strategic consultant, partnering with founders to accelerate growth across retail and D2C channels through comprehensive marketing strategy, innovation development, and resource optimization. With over 25 years of experience spanning finance (8 years)
About
Carla O'Brien is Chief Marketing Officer at Xochitl Tortilla Chips, where she leads all marketing efforts to drive brand growth and market expansion for this premium Mexican-style tortilla chip brand. As a seasoned CPG marketing executive, Carla specializes in early to mid-stage startups ($5-50M revenue). She also serves as a fractional CMO and strategic consultant, partnering with founders to accelerate growth across retail and D2C channels through comprehensive marketing strategy, innovation development, and resource optimization. With over 25 years of experience spanning finance (8 years) and marketing (15+ years), including 10+ years at the VP level, Carla brings deep expertise in building and scaling consumer brands. She excels in developing marketing strategies, establishing realistic budgets, mentoring teams, and assembling high-performing marketing organizations through strategic staffing and agency partnerships. Her track record includes executive marketing roles at leading CPG companies including Kenvue (Johnson & Johnson), SodaStream, Bai, Keurig Dr Pepper, Stuffed Puffs, and Xochitl. She has advised prominent brands such as Church & Dwight (Arm & Hammer), HALO Hydration, Mars (Skittles & Starburst), SharkNinja, Halfday Prebiotic Iced Tea, Mike & Mike's Desserts, WTRMLN and various pre-launch startups. Carla holds an MBA from Duke University (Product Marketing and Social Entrepreneurship) and a BS in Finance with an Environmental Studies minor from Boston College. Her core competencies include: CPG Brand Strategy & Marketing Startup Growth & Scale Team Building & Leadership Consumer Insights & Research Innovation Pipeline Development Channel Strategy (Natural, Mass, E-commerce) Digital Marketing & Content Strategy Marketing Analytics (SPINS, IRI, Nielsen) Budget Management & Optimization Sales Enablement PR & Influencer Marketing Field Marketing Operations