Burrito experts Guzman y Gomez has appointed Claire West to the role of director of marketing, commencing in February 2026.
West is a marketing leader with 25 years’ experience driven by leading high-performing teams to achieve outstanding customer and business outcomes.
She has a proven track record of driving growth and brand transformation within large-scale organisations, most recently with the Woolworths Group and Westpac.
“We are incredibly excited to have a Senior Executive of Claire’s calibre leading our Marketing team in Australia. The growth GYG is seeing is phenomenal and I have no doubt that Claire is going to add yet another layer of marketing excellence to the growth of the brand and the talent in the team,” said GYG’s global CMO, Lara Thom.
“Claire will be joining Alison Peake who is our Director of Communications, PR and Events in leading the GYG marketing function in Australia and supporting our brand and restaurants here and globally.”
Her career highlights include successfully repositioning the Westpac brand for a younger audience post the banking Royal Commission and driving significant growth for BIGW while navigating
challenging COVID-19 trading conditions.
She is a committed and lifelong learner, recognised by her selection for the prestigious 2019 Marketing Academy Scholarship and again for the current 2025 Fellowship cohort. Claire has achieved
numerous industry accolades, including a gold Effie for long-term effectiveness in 2022, the one closest to her heart is leading the talented BIGW team to be awarded B&T Marketing Team of the
Year that same year, a true testament to collective success.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the powerhouse team at GYG next year. They have built a world class product, brand and customer experience and I am thrilled at the chance to be part of the next chapter of growth. The instant cred I now have with my tween/teen kids and the burritos for lunch are secondary but welcome perks.” said West on her appointment.
West will take direct leadership of the marketing function in Australia with national, local area marketing, creative, content and strategy, digital, delivery and guest experience reporting directly into her.
