Ron Paul, President & CEO, Technomic, Inc. (Trends & Opportunities)
Mr. Paul is founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Technomic, Inc. He is responsible for the overall management of the firm, for directing the development of each practice area and for ensuring that the firm's stringent quality consulting and research standards are achieved within each client engagement.
Mr. Paul has served major foodservice companies as a consultant and researcher for over 30 years. He has directed and conducted engagements covering almost all areas of the foodservice industry and company business activities. He has consulted extensively in the areas of strategic planning for manufacturers, distributors, supermarket operators and chain restaurants, in such areas as new product/menu planning, competitive analysis, mergers and acquisitions, opportunity assessments, and organization analyses and restructuring.
Christopher Meyers, CPA, CFO, KeHe Food Distributors, LLC (Success Stories)
Mr. Meyers joined Kehe Food in May 2007 as Chief Financial Officer. Previously, he worked for Navigant Capital Advisors in a variety of financial advisory and restructuring positions. He has also worked for Crowe Chizek (and its affiliate, Keystone Consulting Group), as well as Plante & Moran.
David Miniat, President, Ed Miniat, Inc. and South Chicago Packing (Success Stories)
Mr. Miniat is currently the President of two family businesses, Ed Miniat, Inc. and South Chicago Packing, and has served in that role for the past 15 years. Ed Miniat, Inc. is a manufacturer of cooked meats supplying companies such as meal manufacturers and multi-unit restaurant chains. South Chicago Packing manufactures edible oils, which are sold to food companies, restaurant chains, bakeries, and non-food applications.
Kevin Brown, President & CEO, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc. (Success Stories)
Mr. Brown brings over 25 years of experience and leadership in the restaurant industry to his position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc. ® (LEYE). LEYE is one of the most highly regarded multi-concept restaurant companies with over 80 restaurants compromised of 34 individual concepts in 12 states and sales of $350MM and operating with 5700 employees.
Liam Killeen, CEO, Farley’s & Sathers Candy Company, Inc. (Success Stories)
Mr. Killeen joined Farley’s & Sathers in 2009 with 25 years of Marketing and General Management experience in the Confectionery Industry. Farley’s & Sathers is the largest independent candy company in the U.S., formed by a series of successful acquisitions made since 2002. Prior to joining Farley’s & Sathers, Mr. Killeen led Storck, maker of leading brands such as Werther’s Original, Riesen, and Mamba. As Executive Vice President for the $1.6 billion German parent company, He was CEO, Storck North America and Managing Director, Bendick’s U.K.
Selim Bassoul, CEO, The Middleby Corporation (Success Stories)
Mr. Bassoul has lead The Middleby Corporation to be one of the best performing public companies over the past several years. Mr. Bassoul joined The Middleby Corporation in 1996 as President of the company’s Southbend division. He became Chief Operating Officer in 1999 and was named Chief Executive in 2000 and Chairman of the Board in 2004. Under his leadership the company has added a dozen acquisitions to grow Middleby’s presence to a market leader in the industries they serve and quadruple company sales in a five-year period.