Announcing Three New Giving Kitchen Board Members

Sharon Robinson

Sharon Robinson is the Senior Manager at Home Depot Homer Fund, one of the largest and most successful employee assistance programs in the United States. With over a million dollars of financial assistance per month and 1,000 requests for help a month, Homer Fund has provided more than $200 million to more than 150,000 associates in need of shelter, food, clothing and funeral expenses since 1999. Sharon was one of the first people to sit down with Jen and Ryan Hidinger to discuss the formation of GK’s emergency financial assistance program, offering guidance based on her 18 years of experience with the Homer Fund.

Geoff Cottrill

Geoff Cottrill is a founding partner of Marvin Magazine & Media, LLC. Marvin is a publication focused on storytelling centered around today’s emerging voices in fashion, art, and music. Prior to co-founding Marvin, Cottrill was SVP Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company in North America, where he led all advertising, media, digital, social media, experiential, regional marketing, sports and entertainment properties, college & university relationships for all brands in its portfolio.

He has also served as the General Manager & Chief Marketing Officer for Converse (Nike, Inc) during an unprecedented period of growth. During his tenure at Converse, he was recognized as BrandWeek’s Marketer of the Year, as well as won multiple other industry awards such as Gold Effie, Cannes Gold Lion, and an MTVu Woodie Award. Cottrill’s career also included leadership roles at Starbucks (Hear Music), Procter & Gamble, and the global advertising agency MullenLowe. He has also served on the Board of the Center for Consumer Insights at Yale.

Dan Gertsacov

Dan Gertsacov has spent the last 20 years helping organizations and teams grow through adversity and is currently helping grow the portfolio and seek out new acquisitions for Forrestal Capital, a leading investment fund. Prior, he was responsible for growing the top-line revenue and led the digital turnaround as Chief Commercial Officer/Global CMO of Focus Brands.

Gertsacov was the Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Arcos Dorados, the largest franchisee in the world of McDonald’s, operating 2,400 restaurants in 20 countries.

As a Senior Executive at Google, he opened and led new offices in Latin America and helped launch Google’s foray into traditional television advertising in the US.

He has also been the Regional CEO of LenddoEFL, a venture-backed FinTech startup, and was the founding Executive Director of an international non-profit organization, Forum Empresa.

Nancy Oswald

Nancy E. Oswald co-owns and operates Sizzling Steak Concepts, the world’s largest Ruth’s Chris Steak House franchisee, and serves as its Chief Marketing Officer. The company currently operates ten Ruth’s Chris restaurants in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina as well as a unique rooftop bar/restaurant concept in Greenville, SC, UP on the Roof.

A leader within Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Oswald has served on the parent company’s national advertising council as well as on the Franchise Council. She was awarded a Doctorate of Foodservice (DFS) from the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers in 2013 and named to the ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE’s list of “100 Most Influential Atlantans.”

Together with her business partner and husband, Mark D. Oswald, she was saluted by the Georgia Restaurant Association in 2010, receiving the GRACE Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, the Oswalds were recognized as “Restaurateurs of the Year” by the South Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association as well as honored by the ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE as two of Atlanta’s “Most Admired CEOs.”

Nancy is a founding board member of The Giving Kitchen, and her previous board positions have included Atlanta’s Schenck School and the Georgia Restaurant Association, which she chaired in 2006.