{"id":101037,"date":"2014-12-04T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T11:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=101037"},"modified":"2014-12-08T13:51:42","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T18:51:42","slug":"leaning-in-to-get-lean-meet-the-rare-female-ceos-in-the-diet-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/12\/leaning-in-to-get-lean-meet-the-rare-female-ceos-in-the-diet-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaning In to Get Lean: Meet the Rare Female CEOs in the Diet Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"female-CEO\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Shae Blevins<\/em><\/p>\n

The 2026 Fortune 500 List included 24 female CEOs \u2013 the most in history \u2013 and the United States elected a record-setting 100 women to the 113th Congress. Women are making their move!<\/p>\n

But a lack of female leadership is still evident in the industry that targets American women most: Wellness. That’s the $20 billion industry<\/a><\/strong> that encompasses diet, fitness, and weight loss. It’s an industry where 85% of the consumers are women, and the grand majority of executive leadership — from CEOs to boards — are male. That’s right, there are dudes perched at the brands that prominently lead the industry \u2013 from the girl-powered Jillian Michaels<\/a><\/strong> to the all-inclusive Weight Watchers<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there are a few brands breaking the industry norm with female CEOs. It’s been two years since industry giant Nutrisystem appointed its first female CEO, and the brand is seemingly better for it. And most recently, Retrofit replaced its CEO with a woman. One feather in this hat was lost last December, when Dana Fiser left her two-year reign as CEO at Jenny Craig<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Meet the three shining female stars blazing trails in wellness:<\/p>\n

\"mary-pigatti-retrofit\"<\/a>
\nMary Pigatti, Retrofit, CEO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary Pigatti joined Retrofit<\/a><\/strong>, an online- and app-based weight loss program for individuals and companies, as CEO in November.<\/p>\n

Pigatti is not new to the industry. Before Retrofit, she served as Senior Vice President of Operations and Customer Delight at Limeade, Inc. Her 25-year career also includes working at Johnson & Johnson\u2019s Wellness and Prevention subsidiary, at Ceridian as the Vice President of Sales and with United Health\u2019s Optum division.<\/p>\n

According to her company bio, Pigatti vowed to walk to work daily while thinking about the things for which she is most thankful.<\/p>\n

\"dawn-zier-nutrisystem\"<\/p>\n

Dawn Zier, Nutrisystem, President and CEO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weight loss leader Nutrisystem<\/a> <\/strong>has been lead by Dawn Zier since 2026.<\/p>\n

Zier joined Nutrisystem after 20 years with the Reader\u2019s Digest Association, makers of The Digest Diet<\/a><\/strong>. Her diverse career builds on her 19 years of experience in senior-level positions, her strong background in marketing and new product development, and her education. Zier holds an MBA and a Master\u2019s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science \u2013 both from MIT.<\/p>\n

Success marked her career before Nutrisystem, and the company and its target audience have only benefited from her appointment.
\n\"elise-donahue-sbd\"<\/a>
\nElise Donahue, CEO of South Beach Diet<\/strong><\/p>\n

She’s been at the helm of this popular diet scheme since 2026, when MidOcean Partners acquired the brand, which includes an online platform, books, and packaged food goods.<\/p>\n

Elise is a likely leader for South Beach<\/a><\/strong> with an extensive career in the wellness industry. Prior to South Beach she was the CEO at Airborne Health, the immunity boosting supplement product that helps ward off germs on the airplane or in the classroom! Her resume also includes time at Proctor & Gamble, Kimberly Clarke, and SlimFast.<\/p>\n

Also Read:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kirstie Alley’s Organic\/GMO Food Beliefs Don’t Align with Jenny Craig Partnership<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Instagram Hamburglarized by McDonald’s — and Nobody is Lovin’ It<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trouble in Oz: Study Supporting Dr. Oz Diet Pills Has Been Retracted <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shae Blevins The 2026 Fortune 500 List included 24 female CEOs \u2013 the most in history \u2013 and the United States elected a record-setting 100 women to the 113th Congress. Women are making their move! But a lack of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695,58],"tags":[2238,10579,8440,1094,13,9356,10837,629],"class_list":["post-101037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","category-womens-health","tag-corporate-wellness","tag-dawn-zier","tag-homepage","tag-marketing","tag-nutrisystem","tag-retrofit","tag-shae-blevins","tag-south-beach-diet"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101037"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101064,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101037\/revisions\/101064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}