Suggestions
Kerry Endert
Global Director of Contracts, Sourcing, Intellectual Property and Litigation at Taco Bell
Professional Background
Kerry Endert is a seasoned legal professional with extensive experience leading legal departments and managing teams across various industries, particularly in the restaurant and fashion sectors. With a career marked by a commitment to collaboration and relationship building with executives, functional leaders, and stakeholders, Kerry has successfully driven risk mitigation initiatives and ensured compliance with a broad spectrum of international, federal, and state laws.
Beginning her career in real estate law and transactions for a burgeoning international fast-casual restaurant brand, Kerry quickly laid the groundwork for a dynamic legal career. She was among the first in-house legal team members at True Religion Brand Jeans during a transformative period for the company, where she was instrumental in navigating the complex legal landscape associated with rapid expansion. As True Religion's retail footprint grew from five stores to an impressive 150, and revenue increased over fourfold, Kerry played a crucial role in facilitating the legal requirements necessary for international growth, brand authentication, and intellectual property portfolio management.
Kerry's entrepreneurial spirit was further highlighted when she joined Dutch, LLC, well-known for prestigious brands such as Joie, Current/Elliott, and Equipment. In this capacity, she spearheaded the establishment of a newly minted in-house legal department, facilitating the growth of a $300 million company while executing a $200 million acquisition transaction. Additionally, Kerry's strategic foresight enabled her to save the company millions of dollars by reincorporating all three brands' intellectual property portfolios and real estate transactions into the in-house legal framework,
After her successful tenure at Dutch, Kerry joined Taco Bell Corp., a titan in the quick-service restaurant sector, boasting approximately $10 billion in brand revenue and over 7,000 restaurants spread across 22 countries. In this role, Kerry quickly took on expanded responsibilities, overseeing vital functions such as contracts, sourcing, intellectual property, and litigation management. Under her leadership, her talented team effectively sources, drafts, structures, and negotiates both essential and everyday commercial transactions and contracts, while also safeguarding Taco Bell's iconic trademarks and supporting innovative advertising and marketing initiatives.
Kerry's broad range of expertise encompasses regulatory compliance, contracts, corporate governance, litigation management, marketing, licensing and distribution, and labor law. Her dedication to delivering responsive risk mitigation and asset protection services exemplifies her commitment to fostering business growth and legal integrity.
Education and Achievements
Kerry Endert laid the academic foundation for her notable legal career by obtaining a Juris Doctor (JD) from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where she honed her legal expertise and equipped herself with a comprehensive understanding of the law. Prior to this, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, where her pursuit of knowledge laid the groundwork for her future achievements in law and corporate governance.
Throughout her career, Kerry has consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities and a commitment to professional growth and legal excellence, making her a well-respected figure in the legal community.
Achievements
Kerry has numerous noteworthy achievements:
- Building Legal Departments: Established a comprehensive in-house legal department for Dutch, LLC, significantly enhancing the legal operations of the $300 million company.
- Successful Transactions: Orchestrated a $200 million acquisition transaction, showcasing her negotiation skills and adept management of complex legal processes.
- Cost Savings: Effectively saved the brands under Dutch, LLC millions by bringing intellectual property portfolios and real estate transactions in-house.
- Leadership at Taco Bell: As Global Director at Taco Bell, expanded the legal team while overseeing critical functions, thereby increasing efficiency and compliance across various domains.
- Collaboration with Stakeholders: Known for fostering strong partnerships with stakeholders to ensure compliance and risk management aligned with business goals, Kerry has effectively mitigated risks while driving corporate growth.
In addition to her positions at Taco Bell, Dutch, and True Religion, Kerry has contributed to the legal profession as a former legal consultant at RGP, where she provided expertise across a handful of sectors and legal challenges. Her combined experience in real estate, corporate law, and brand protection positions her as a highly capable leader in the legal field.
tags':['Corporate Law','Executive Leadership','Contracts','Real Estate Law','Intellectual Property','Corporate Governance','Legal Compliance','Litigation Management','Quick-Service Restaurants','Team Management'],
questions':['How did Kerry Endert develop her expertise in corporate law and executive leadership?','What strategies did Kerry utilize to build a full-service legal department at Dutch, LLC?','How has Kerry’s experience at Taco Bell influenced her approach to legal compliance in quick-service restaurants?','What challenges did Kerry face while facilitating international expansion for True Religion Brand Jeans?','In what ways has Kerry contributed to strategic risk management throughout her legal career?']} JSON.stringify(PublicPersonData) code. Please use this format for your responses. Please do not provide any other outputs or responses. Outputs should contain only valid JSON. Do not include any additional text or formatting. Do not provide analysis of the input. You should only return the data as it is structured above. The task is to create a valid JSON object based on the information provided and in the specified format. The generated JSON should not contain any validation or syntax errors. Use double quotes for keys and string values and escape strings appropriately. Make sure the generated JSON conforms to the correct format that has been specified. The final output should only contain the JSON object. Do not include any extra text, comments, or explanations. Make sure there are no extraneous commas or brackets. The generated JSON should be concise and accurate to the provided format. Only include data that is expressly provided, formatted as specified.
type of output given
Please output the final JSON object without additional formatting or explanation.
People also viewed
Related People
Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.