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Dickey’s CIO receives Women in Technology award

The Dallas Business Journal has announced the honorees for the 2015 Women in Technology Awards, naming Laura Rea Dickey, CIO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, as one of 20 influential women in technology leadership positions.

September 17, 2015

The Dallas Business Journal has announced the honorees for the 2015 Women in Technology Awards, naming Laura Rea Dickey, CIO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, as one of 20 influential women in technology leadership positions.

The annual program recognizes women for their leadership, technical prowess, advocacy and entrepreneurial spirit in technology careers, according to a company press release.

Rea provides strategic direction for the Dickey’s brand overseeing IT and software development as well as managing business partners such as iOLAP and Yellowfin. Since joining the company in 2008, she has been instrumental in creating the IT and software development strategy that assists the company with obtaining analytical data that in turn impacts sales and business decisions, according to the release. She specializes in the intersection of data, information technology and marketing, turning data insights into brand and business solutions.

Most recently, Rea has overseen and managed the combination of barbecue and Big Data to better understand the customer and to drive restaurant performance. The result is a platform dubbed Smoke Stack. The cutting-edge technology was developed under Rea’s direction to maintain a competitive edge in the ever-growing fast casual restaurant space, according to the release.

She’s also helped guide the company through its explosive growth, going from 151 stores in 2012, to more than 500 stores in 2015. The company plans to get to 750 units and expand internationally over the next several years.

In addition to her contributions as an industry professional, she is a board member for Dickey’s charitable foundation, Barbecue, Boots & Badges.

The women will be honored at a cocktail reception Oct. 1 at The Empire Room.