Around 50 Poole students filled Nelson 1120 on March 26 for a special guest. Each of the students were given an orange and white box containing a patty melt, a bag of chips and a cookie. The box, and the speaker, were from Whataburger – the 75-year-old burger chain from the southwest, finally expanding to the Triangle. A new location in Wake Forest opened that day, with another location on East Six Forks Road in Raleigh days away from their own grand opening, and Whataburger CEO Debbie Stroud was here to speak with NC State students.

Meet Debbie Stroud

Tom Byrnes, a professor of practice in marketing, introduced Stroud to a round of applause as the students were sampling Whataburger’s wares. Stroud asked the students if this was their first Whataburger experience, and about 75% of them raised their hands. This is understandable, given that most NC State students are from North Carolina, a new region for the brand.

Stroud herself grew up without any childhood connection to Whataburger – she’s from a small town in Illinois, states away from the nearest franchise. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, became a CPA, and went to work for McDonald’s Corporation. She picked the Golden Arches over a CPA firm “because there was something about the brand that I thought, ‘I could work there for the next 20 years.’” It ended up being far more stable: She stayed there for 27 and a half years.

She jumped between roles and rose through the ranks, saying “I just kept raising my hand and saying, yes, yes, yes, yes.” This led her away from the purely financial side and into the operational sphere as she developed an interest in how businesses were run. Midway through her career, she became a regional controller for the Raleigh area and lived in the City of Oaks for about 16 cumulative years. Two of her daughters graduated from Raleigh high schools – one from Millbrook, another from Leesville. “Raleigh is home to me,” she said, “and so bringing the orange and white here is really near and dear to me personally.”

Working in operations helped Stroud realize the importance of honing your skills without siloing yourself too much. “You want to bloom where you’re planted, but the reality of it is that looking across the whole enterprise and working cross-functionally and collaborating is more and more and more important.” She did much of this work before the modern advent of consumer business insights, which meant less real-time data to feed marketing and changes, but marketing channels were also much less fragmented.

She eventually heard the “siren call” of a new opportunity and joined Starbucks. After a few years in Raleigh, and with all three of her daughters out of the house and in/through college, she moved to Seattle and eventually became a senior VP.  “I learned a lot of lessons there as well in terms of purpose-driven leadership – less about checklists, more about framework and empowering leaders in order to achieve.”

Joining Whataburger

Stroud was eventually offered a spot in the Whataburger C-suite, starting as COO. She again mentions her lack of connection to the brand, but cites it as something that intrigued her more. “I don’t have the memories of my mom and dad and my grandpa taking me there at five years old, but what I could immediately tell and feel through the people that I spoke with is that it was a brand with heart.” 

She’s quick to point out that there’s a company saying that it’s about “pride, care and love.” After all, “The burger doesn’t hit the grill until you order it. And by the way, it’s just like you like it, which means if you want that bun toasted on both sides, extra grilled jalapenos and put some jalapeno ranch on your burger instead of mustard, we’re good.” 

In 2025, she was named CEO of the company.

The Whataburger Brand

Whataburger was owned primarily by the Dobson family for decades before they sold a majority stake in the company to BDT Capital Partners (now known as BDT & MSD Partners). There was some concern among fans of the brand, but Stroud emphasizes that the current ownership “wants nothing more than to keep the orange and white stripes exactly like the orange and white stripes. 

“And so we have not changed the bun. We have not changed the beef. We have not changed the mustard. We have not changed. If anything, we’re just trying to get it into new markets so more people can know and love our brand, and that is no small challenge.”

Students were shown a sizzle reel promoting Whataburger, which included celebrities organically discussing the brand, like Ed Sheeran mentioning it in concert and Selena Gomez name-dropping it on a podcast. “That is a bit of marketing that you can’t buy, but it is certainly something that as a brand and as a reputation, brand trust, you’ve got to protect. You’ve got to protect it, you’ve got to love it, you’ve got to grow it, you’ve got to nurture it.”

She then broke down several of the growth drivers of Whataburger’s strategic three-to-five-year plan. At the top of the list is menu innovation, specifically how to grow the menu for changing trends while preserving the items that make Whataburger special. Another pillar was improving the digital platforms, including the website and the app. “Our app is functional and fine,” she said. “It does not represent, I think, who we think our brand can and should be … you want it to be frictionless and seamless. That means not just for you, but for when it arrives at the restaurant so we can meet your needs to do all the things you want to do.”

Another big one is franchise growth, as evidenced by the expansion to the Triangle. One student had recently studied abroad in Argentina, so Stroud used that as an example for hypothetical expansion. They’d have to consider how much capital they would want to use against how much they would need to use. They would also need to figure out what food and beverage options Argentinians would respond to positively. There would also be a supply chain issue, since Whataburger never uses frozen beef. “So you can’t just truck everything from Texas. How do I get fresh beef in Argentina? I don’t know. I know they have cows there. We’ll figure it out. But it’s not simple, right?”

A Conversation with the CEO

Byrnes then broke the class up into groups based on their area of study and assigned each of them a question to discuss, then bring ideas to Stroud.

During the discussion, students frequently brought up authenticity and how Gen Z as a whole feels starved for it. One brought up Gomez’s affinity for Whataburger, noting that the Only Murders In The Building star is a Texan so her connection to the brand feels genuine. Stroud agreed, noting that singer Lainey Wilson and MLB star Bobby Witt Jr. were picked for partnerships “because there is an authentic – from their childhood, from their lens – attachment to the brand that goes without any sort of pretense.”

Another student suggested reliability as a selling point, especially when people scroll by ads so quickly. “The world right now is sort of in turmoil,” said a student. “We don’t really know what the next day is going to look like, but for 75 years you guys have had consistency.” She noted that “just being able to have something approachable, authentic, and you can show value. You might not know what tomorrow looks like, but you know you can get a good Whataburger.” The entire room sounded impressed, and Stroud responded with a smile: “Can I have your name, please?”

One group of students mentioned the food truck space outside Carter-Finlay Stadium, and suggested that it could be Whataburger Central for a football game. A presence at events like Packapalooza and the North Carolina State Fair would help raise awareness and familiarity among the Raleigh community.

Also discussed were the pros and cons of using services like DoorDash instead of in-house delivery, the risk-reward calculation of using influencer marketing and the complications of using social media to respond to news or rumors.

In attendance was Bryan Freudeman, the operating partner of the new East Six Forks location. He walked away impressed by the students and jotted down some of their ideas. “I thought there was a lot of great insight,” he said. “I’m super grateful to be here. Thank you guys for having us and would love to see a lot of you guys in the restaurant and hopefully make some partnerships with NC State.”

Connecting with the Poole Pack

After the presentation, Stroud stuck around to speak with a line of students, giving advice and taking pictures. She walked away impressed with the Poole Pack. 

“They were great,” she said. “Very, very engaged.” She brought up Whataburger’s “Feeding Student Success” program and said “This is what it’s all about: Young minds that are going to help connect the brand with other consumers.”

She was also excited to hear directly from a key demographic, especially one so well versed in business: “Marketing is always iterative, right? So there are lots of ideas, and to hear it from our Gen Z consumer – like about what matters to them and what would really connect with them – both reinforces the ideas we already have going, as well as helps to put an exclamation point on future endeavors.”

“This is what it’s all about: Young minds that are going to help connect the brand with other consumers.”

Stroud can also see some of the students working for the orange and white. “We’re always growing. In fact, we’ve hired many on the ground, PR-type of marketing folks to help us as we enter the Raleigh market.” She furnished her email to the group, and encouraged them to connect with her on LinkedIn. She genuinely hopes to hear from them. “We just love to be part of the community. And NC State is a big part of the Raleigh community.”