Toast Executive Kelly Esten Outlines Strategy for Managing Dual C-Suite Roles

Industry Pulse News Desk · 2026-09-21

Kelly Esten, chief operating officer and chief marketing officer at restaurant technology firm Toast, relies on delegation and structured communications to balance her duties.

Restaurant technology provider Toast has adopted a dual-executive structure under Kelly Esten, who serves simultaneously as the company's chief operating officer and chief marketing officer. Esten, a nine-year veteran of the digital ordering and payments firm, manages the combined remit by delegating operational tasks and focusing her attention on corporate strategy.

During her tenure at Toast, Esten has overseen product marketing, led strategic partnerships, and expanded the company’s enterprise footprint with large restaurant groups. After rising through the ranks to executive leadership, her role expanded to encompass both marketing and general operations, with operational responsibilities claiming the majority of her daily focus.

To prevent decision-making bottlenecks across two distinct corporate divisions, Esten relies on delegating authority to lower-level managers and executive staff. She reserves direct intervention for key strategic junctures where executive oversight can measurably alter business outcomes, stepping back from routine operational execution.

To ensure departmental leaders possess sufficient context for autonomous decision-making, Esten distributes detailed weekly briefings to both the marketing and enterprise organizations. The communication strategy originated during her time leading product marketing to bridge information gaps between frontline teams and senior executive leadership.

Looking ahead, Esten noted that the integration of artificial intelligence tools across enterprise management may further blur traditional boundaries between C-suite roles, prompting more executives to oversee multiple functional departments simultaneously.