THE FCSI INTERVIEW


Kathleen Held, CEO and president of Cini- Little International, Inc., tells Michael Jones how she overcame dyslexia and followed an unorthodox path to end up running one of the world’s largest foodservice consultancies


W hen


Kathleen Held CPSM first found out she was to be named Consultant of the Year at the 2025 FE&S Top Achievers Awards, she was was caught a little off guard. “Joe [Carbonara, editor in chief of FE&S] called me up and I honestly thought he was punking me. I said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’m not a consultant!’ I haven’t paid my dues into the industry yet,” she laughs. Yet Held very evidently has paid her dues. Te CEO and president of Cini-Little International, Inc. since 2020,


having joined full-time in 1995, she is also president of the FCSI Educational Foundation (FCSI EF) and has served on FCSI Te Americas boards and conference planning committees since 2022. But it’s true that the path


to her leading one of the world’s largest and most diverse foodservice consultancies has not been a traditional one. Typically, those roles go to seasoned design consultants – and in an industry that remains top-heavy with male CEOs and board members, Held’s unorthodox ascendancy is all the more impressive. How has she achieved this? Via strategic thinking that harnesses the power of storytelling, and with a people-first mindset that has shaped her leadership style. Plus, an unerring focus on elevating others and mentoring the next generation.


FINDING INSPIRATION


When I was growing up, I had some struggles in school,” she says. A later diagnosis of dyslexia from an “inspirational mentor” – her college English Professor, Dr Judith Pula – helped Held to make sense of why she had not taken to academia initially, but in time things became easier for her. “My brain just figured things out when I reached high school. After that I excelled. I took courses in government and law, but I gravitated towards history. I loved the analytical aspect.” Held grew up in Frederick


County, Maryland. Her father, who passed in 2017, was a firefighter, while her mother was a foodservice equipment dealer before joining Marriott, where she worked in the foodservice design division. Following an aborted decision to take a degree in marketing – “Tey needed me to pass an accounting course, but accounting made no sense to me then” – Held studied history and art history at Frostburg State University. “I specialized in military history and strategy, which I think helped me greatly in leadership – understanding that you must learn from different strategic moves,


“Studying military history helped me in leadership – understanding you must learn from different strategic moves”


whether they failed or were successful,” she adds. At the end of the first semester of her college freshman term, Held got a Christmas job at her mother’s firm. Her mother had been headhunted 10 years previous by John Cini FFCSI (PP) to be the head of the estimating department for his company. So the young Kathleen was now manning the reception at Cini-Little International, Inc. “My mom decided I needed to experience what working life was like,” she laughs. By now, Held was already


accustomed to meeting industry legends, of course. Alongside Cini, names such as James Little FFCSI (PP), William Eaton FFCSI (PP), Ron Kooser FFCSI (PP), Michael Pantano FFCSI (PP), Teodore “Ted” Farrand FCSI, and Harry Schildkraut FCSI, were brought into her orbit. To work with them was a little different, however. “Tose were the people that I was interacting with daily, so it was a little intimidating to be in an office with them. At that point, in the early ‘90s, the men were still wearing three- piece suits every day. John and Bill had a formidable presence, but I admired them and their passion for what we did. I’d watch local clients and reps come to the office and see the reverence they had for them,” she says. Ten, as now, Cini-Little


held enormous prestige in the industry. Following the merger of Cini-Grissom Associates and Jim Little’s firm, LFL Consulting Group out of Toronto, Canada, its roster of foodservice design projects


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WORLDWIDE


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