Cynthia Jamison

Cynthia Jamison is the Chairman of BigLots, Inc. and Darden Restaurants. She also serves as a Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee at ODP Corp. – formerly Office Depot. In May 2023, Cynthia retired from the Board of Directors of Tractor Supply Company, a position she held since 2002, where she was Chairman of the Board after serving as Lead Director and Chair of the Audit, Compensation & Corporate Governance Committees. At Darden Restaurants, Cynthia was part of a complete board replacement slate through Starboard Value’s proxy fight in 2014. Her previous board roles include Horizon Organic Holdings, Cellu Tissue, Caribe Media, and B&G Foods.   

Prior to her full-time board service, Cynthia had an executive career as a “crisis CFO.” In that capacity, from June 1999 through May 2009, she served as a partner with Tatum, LLP. She has been the Chief Financial Officer or Chief Operating Officer of several publicly and privately held companies, including eMac, Inc., a joint venture between McDonald’s Corp. and KKR & Co. L.P.; Cosi, Inc., the casual dining chain; SurePayroll, a payroll processing firm; and Illinois Superconductor, a radio frequency cellular technology company. 

From 2006 on, she was in a Managing Partner role within Tatum and served in several additional capacities, including as Managing Partner of the CFO Services practice, where she led 300+ CFO partners and sat on the firm’s Operating Committee. From 2009 until her retirement in 2012, she served as the Chief Financial Officer of AquaSpy, Inc., an environmentally responsible Australian irrigation company. Cynthia still serves on that (private) board and remains a personal investor in the company. Before her CFO roles, she held executive positions of increasing responsibility at Arthur Andersen, Kraft General Foods, Hewitt Associates, Allied Domecq (Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins) and Chart House Enterprises.

Cynthia recently completed a four-year term as a member of FASAC, the advisory board to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). In addition, she is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow and was awarded the “Top 100 Director” honor in 2017. Cynthia also sits on the NACD Corporate Directors Institute Board. She is a frequent keynote speaker on CFO and boardroom topics and has been quoted as a financial and economic expert in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CFO Magazine, Agenda, Board Member, and the Economist. 

Cynthia joined the Premiumaid Foundation Board in 2024 and is a member of the Nominations & Governance Committee.