Led the North Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Waco, Temple, Killeen, and College Station markets consisting of 33 restaurants for Whataburger, a 69-year-old iconic Texas brand, including 6 Area Managers, 33 General Managers, 165 Managers, and 2000 Team Leaders, Crew, and support staff, with restaurants averaging over $3.5M per unit. Was recruited by Whataburger to lead their cultural drive to become more people-oriented, increasing customer service through hiring, developing, and then retaining better people at all levels.

Developed a sustainable people culture to support RŌTI's mission of serving delicious, healthy meals: “food that loves you back”.•Led people development effort for sustainable growth and focused on developing better, more robust and sustainable unit level economics•Led brand development, including new restaurant design and menu innovation for both in-store and catering operations•Opened the New York market and continued aggressive development of Chicago, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia markets•Created new hiring practices, targeting only those with characteristics having the greatest opportunity for success; implemented training programs and people development ladders; led effort for leadership development•Recruited high-performing individuals to lead field operations and repositioned existing high performers into roles resulting in greater impact•Was an integral member of the Steering Committee responsible for all company direction•Focused on operational systems and procedures that supported increased sales and restaurant-level profitability•Focused menu innovation on emphasizing robust flavors and food made in a way that makes a positive impact on our surroundings•At the board’s request, served as the interim CEO

Joined Chipotle when the chain had 17 restaurants and left when there were over 1200. Highlight was years spent building the Midwest area business and culture from the ground level, ultimately being responsible for 165 locations and 3700 employees with sales greater than $350MM.•Led the Great Lakes Region through a time of unprecedented growth; hired and developed a top-flight leadership team, several members of which are Chipotle’s senior leaders today•Developed all facets of the business in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, including 45 locations with sales exceeding $80MM•Led operations, training, local store marketing, recruiting, culture, and language, facilities management, as well as partnerships with human resources, purchasing, and real estate•Built sales in a challenging market, exceeded revenue goals by driving sales and marketing initiatives, created and led a stronger more cohesive team•Successfully recruited high-caliber candidates for positions at all levels of the organization, built outstanding teams that led to superior staff performance through great working atmosphere•Opened the Minnesota market in 1998 and led the company to achieve phenomenal growth, grew the Minnesota regional market to one of the most successful in the system, consistently outperformed annual sales and cash flow plan•Earned promotions to market director, operations director, and team director after starting as an area manager