Elise is a successful retail executive with extensive experience in operating businesses throughout Australia and North America.

As the daughter of Bakers Delight founders, Roger and Lesley Gillespie, Elise was ‘born to bake’ and quickly adopted her parents’ passion for delighting each and every customer with great quality bread.

Elise spent the first nine years of her career in North America working in a series of operational roles for COBS Bread, a subsidiary of Bakers Delight. She played a key role in the rapid growth of the COBS Bread business in North America and quickly rose through the ranks to become Vice President – a role she held from 2009 to 2012.

In 2012, Elise returned home to Australia to form part of the Bakers Delight Executive Team and worked across multiple areas of the business to develop and implement a range of successful growth strategies.
In January 2017, Elise and her husband, David Christie were appointed Joint CEOs of Bakers Delight in Australia and New Zealand when founders, Roger and Lesley Gillespie chose to step down after 37 years at the helm. The vision for Bakers Delight, since 2017 has been focussed on, regaining brand relevance for today and tomorrow’s consumers, through innovation, product development and greater convenience.