Mary Dillon (businesswoman)


Mary Dillon is an American businesswoman. She has been the CEO of Ulta Beauty, a beauty retail company, since July 2013. She was global chief marketing officer and executive vice president of McDonald's from 2005 to 2010. She served as CEO and president of U.S. Cellular from 2010 to 2013. Dillon is a non-executive director of Starbucks.
On May 31, 2019, Dillon announced plans for Ulta to expand its business internationally, beginning with store openings in Canada.
Dillon has a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Asian Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Dillon was named one of Fortune's most powerful women in 2016. In 2016 she became a trustee of the Save the Children Federation. In October 2018, she was awarded the Sandra Taub Humanitarian Award for philanthropic leadership. In June 2019, Dillon was named one of Barron's best CEOs.

Early life

Mary Dillon was born in Chicago and is the fourth among six siblings. Her father worked as a steel worker while her mother was a housewife. She studied college at the University of Illinois and worked various jobs such as a waitress, a house cleaner, and a bank teller, to acquire money for her tuition. She earned her bachelor's degree in marketing in 1983.