Katie Sherping

With more than 29 years of finance, accounting and managerial experience, Katie Scherping served as Red Robin's chief financial officer from June 2005 to July 2011. In this role, Katie was responsible for all financial aspects of the restaurant company, including financial reporting and compliance, financial planning and analysis, and investor relations.

Katie began her career in Denver in the early 1980's as an auditor with Arthur Andersen. She moved on to various accounting positions within companies in the oil and gas industry, including Apache Petroleum where she relocated the accounting operations from Minneapolis to Denver in 1987. In 1990, Katie joined the Alert Centre, a security alarm monitoring company, where she led the financial team through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to emerge as a public company listed on the American Stock Exchange. Alert Centre was sold to ADT Security Services in 1996, at which time Katie assumed the position of corporate controller. After the merger with ADT, Katie relocated all of ADT’s accounting functions from Parsippany, New Jersey to Denver. In 1998, Katie accepted the role of director of technical accounting and internal reporting with Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI). Katie was instrumental in the integration of TCI with AT&T Broadband after their merger. In 1999, Katie accepted a position with Tanning Technology Corporation, an IT services consulting firm. As director of finance and treasurer, Katie led Tanning through an initial public offering and listing on the NASDAQ. In 2002, Katie was named chief financial officer, and the following year led the company as it was being sold to a private equity buyer. In 2004, Katie spent a year at a privately-held company, Policy Studies, Inc. as its controller before joining Red Robin in 2005.

During Katie’s tenure at Red Robin in June 2005, the company grew from 274 restaurants to over 450 in July 2011. Revenue grew from $486.0 million in 2005 to $864.3 million in 2010. She shepherded the company through many challenges while CFO of the company including rapid growth during her tenure.

In 2006, Katie was awarded the Jean Yancey Award for Outstanding Women in Business by the Denver chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Denver Business Journal. In 2008, Katie was the recipient of the CFO of the Year Award in the medium-sized public company category presented by the Denver Business Journal. In 2011, Katie was recognized by her alma mater, Northern Illinois University, as an Outstanding Accountancy Alumni for her professional achievements and continued support of the Accountancy Department at the university.

Katie grew up in Aurora, Ill. and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Northern Illinois University, and is a CPA. She is an alumnae of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority where she currently serves as a board member of the national Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation that supports member leadership programs, scholarships, and play therapy programs for children’s hospitals. Katie also serves as member of the editorial advisory board for the Financial Executives International magazine.