- Leah Smith
- SVP and CMO / MINA Group
Leah Smith is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of MINA Group. She is responsible for all aspects of MINA’s marketing efforts, including brand strategy, consumer research, creative, sales, and guest communications.
Before joining MINA Group, Leah was Chief Branding Officer of Exer Urgent Care, Southern California’s largest urgent care company. She completed brand strategy work while opening 11 new clinics during COVID. She also partnered with the Executive team to demonstrably improve the patient experience by adding key digital touchpoints, such as a telemedicine solution, a patient portal and a virtual line.
Before that, Leah was Chief Marketing Officer for Veggie Grill, the largest plant-based fast-casual restaurant in the U.S. She completed extensive consumer research to evolve the brand and menu as the aperture for plant-based food expanded. Leah oversaw menu development and engineering, along with expanding the brand into Chicago, Boston and New York city. She built out the digital ecosystem, including a new app, online ordering portal, and catering program.
Leah's first foray into restaurants started at Patina Restaurant Group, where she drove marketing portfolio strategies, that delivered on brand promise, experience and profitable growth for over thirty restaurants. Her other experience includes working various hospitality brands, such as W Hotels, Waldorf Astoria and Joie de Vivre.