WORKSHOPS: Food & Beverage Track

As Vice President of Quality Assurance, Mr. Thompson manages the quality assurance staff at 10 regional centers throughout the United States and has the responsibility for the overall food safety and physical safety for all Avendra contracted products.

Mr. Thompson came to Avendra after nine years with Marriott International as a Commodity Team Leader and Director of Strategic Contracting. Prior to Marriott, he worked in the meat industry for 25 years in various roles including Vice President Operations for Esskay, Plant Operations Manager for Swift Industries and Plant Operations Manager for Greenwood Packing.

His memberships include the Food Safety Leadership Council and Texas A&M Institute of Food Science and Engineering Advisory Council. In addition, Mr. Thompson serves on the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Advisory Council and the Maryland/DC Minority Supplier Development Council. Mr. Thompson is a graduate of University of Baltimore in Business Administration.

Avendra is North America's leading procurement services company serving hospitality-related industries. Avendra customers gain access to contracts leveraging more than $3 billion of annual purchases, expert advisory services and in-depth purchasing data and analysis.

Mr. Hernandez is responsible for setting the food safety and quality vision and standards for US Foodservice, its Distribution Centers, Food Processing facilities and Private Label products. He is also responsible for the organization's compliance with all regulatory standards for food safety.

Prior to joining US Foodservice, Mr. Hernandez was the Vice President for Food Safety & Risk Management for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. In this role, he headed the NRA's efforts to identify and define the foodservice industry's food safety and risk management programs including training and education. At the same time Mr. Hernandez served as the Food Safety Vice President for the International Food Safety Council, an NRA initiative focused on heightening the awareness of food safety in the industry. One of the key accomplishments of this Council was the creation of National Food Safety Education Month, a national program that promotes food safety and food safety training in the foodservice industry.

Prior to working with the NRA, Mr. Hernandez worked for the Illinois Department of Public Health, and was responsible for the training and standardization of food inspectors across the state, the implementation of the state's food code and the writing of interpretations of the same.

Mr. Hernandez is a registered sanitarian, a certified food safety instructor and a past FDA standardization officer. He is a member of the National Restaurant Association Quality Assurance Executives Study Group, the National Environmental Health Association, the Association of Food & Drug Officials, the Institute of Food Technologists, the International Association for Food Protection and the American Translators Association.

In addition, Mr. Hernandez serves as a board member of the Produce Marketing Association, the Quality Executives Board, the Advocate Hospitals Charitable Foundation the American National Standards Institute's Accreditation Committee, the Conference for Food Protection (several committees) and served as a scientific member of the National Egg Board's Food Safety Advisory Panel, Underwriter Laboratories Food Industry User panel, and the International HACCP Alliance.

He is fluent in English, Spanish and French, has bachelor's degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Rockford College in Illinois, a degree in French Culture from La Universite de la Sorbonne in Paris, France and a degree in Microbiology from the Centro de Estudios Cientificos y Tecnologicos Especialidades Medico-Biologicas in Mexico City, Mexico.

Mr. Chestnut started with NSF International in 2006 and is responsible for supply chain food safety programs, including NSF Cook & Thurber and NSF Davis Fresh. He came to NSF from Darden Restaurants where he was Vice President, Total Quality, responsible for all aspects of supplier, laboratory, and restaurant quality assurance. He began his career at Darden in 1980 and held progressive positions as; Quality Assurance Manager - Red Lobster, Director of Quality Assurance - General Mills Restaurants, and International Director of Product Safety and Quality where he established an international food safety and quality inspection program for seafood and produce with personnel in Asia, Central America, and Mexico.

Mr. Chestnut was a founding member of the Food Safety Leadership Council (Darden, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Avendra, and Disney), a group that developed higher food safety standards for processors and produce growers. He is active in the Conference for Food Protection where he was Vice-Chair of the 2000 Conference and served as a member of the Executive Board from 1998-2004.

Chairman Armenta was first elected to serve as the Tribal Chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in 1999. He was re-elected to a fifth term in March 2007.

Prior to being elected Chairman, he owned his own business as a welder in Santa Ynez. As a successful business owner, he learned key negotiating tactics, project management techniques and the importance of listening to customers -- skills he uses today as a tribal leader.

One of eight children, Chairman Armenta has lived on the reservation since 1979. He attended local schools and graduated from Santa Ynez Valley High School. During his younger years, he was active in various sports activities. Now as a proud father of three sons, he encourages his own children to participate in team sports to help build character.

Chairman Armenta comes from a family that has devoted themselves to public service. His father was active in tribal politics and two of his brothers have served on two tribal commissions.

A strong leader with a passion to improve the economic and educational opportunities available for tribal members of all ages, Chairman Armenta is honored to serve on his tribe's leadership team.

David Brents is the Chief Operating Officer of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and its main business enterprise - the Chumash Casino Resort.

He brings a wealth of finance and management experience to his role as the Chief Operating Officer, where he is responsible for overseeing the management of the Chumash Casino Resort operations and also the economic development for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.

David spent 20 years as a CPA for a variety of companies. He joined the Chumash Casino Resort from Pari-mutuel Racing Company (Wembley USA) where he was the Chief Financial Officer. In his capacity as CFO, he grew the business from $4 million in profits to $50 million in profits over an 11 year-period.

Earlier in his career, David was an auditor with a Big Four CPA Firm, Coopers & Lybrand, where he focused on oil and gas and technology.

Originally from Texas, David completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas - Arlington where he received a degree in accounting. He also attended the University of Denver where he received a master's degree in finance.

Bio Coming Soon

Bio Coming Soon

Bob Schafer is the Vice President of Operations for Casino Support Service of Sodexo Remote Sites. In this capacity, Bob oversees the Sodexo operations at Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, as well as the development of new opportunities in the casino segment.

Bob brings a broad hospitality career to his current role. His twenty year career with Marriott included opening and operating positions in Marriott's Restaurant, Theme Park, and Lodging groups. He has been the General Manager of a 429 room hotel, and opened the Food & Beverage operations of a first class thoroughbred race track.

When Marriott merged their Management Services division with Sodexo, Bob became Vice President Operations for Health Care in Southern California, responsible for food service, housekeeping, and facility maintenance. His experiences with Sodexo USA headquarters in Supply Chain Management gives him unique insight into the costs and controls of this critical factor of hospitality management.

Originally from the Chicago area, Bob obtained his degree from Bradley University in Business Management and Finance. He and his wife live in Ventura County, California and enjoy frequent visits with their four children and their families.

Jean Holland serves as the Corporate Nutritionist and HACCP Coordinator for Doyon Univer-sal Services, a joint venture between Doyon, Ltd (one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations) and Sodexo Remote Sites. In this role she provides nutrition education and well-ness programs, as well as monitoring and training the Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety and sanitation program to staff and clients in Alaska and California.

From her professional accreditation of a Doctorate in Education and her Oklahoma, Georgia, and Louisiana experiences, "Doctor Jean" provides lively classroom and on the job instruction to all the culinary, service, and management individuals she works with. The topics include ba-sic nutrition, menu planning, menu modification, how to read labels, and interpreting government regulations concerning food products.

As HACCP Coordinator and certified ServSafe instructor, she provides analysis, improvement plans, monitoring, and audits to each facility for program implementation.

Her numerous affiliations include participation in the State of Alaska DEC Advisory Commit-tee; American Dietetic Association; Alaska Dietetic Association; International Food Service Executive Association; Southeastern Conference of College and University Food and Nutrition Professors; UAA Dietetic Intern Advisory Committee; State of Alaska Job Corp Advisory Committee; and UAF Culinary Advisory Committee

Her degrees and professional accreditations are as follows:
EdD - Nutrition, Institutional Administration and Adult Education, Oklahoma State University
RD - Dietetic Internship, Oklahoma State University
MS - Nutrition, Institutional Administration, Oklahoma State University
BS - Dietetics and Home Economics Education, Women's College of Georgia

Bernie Otis is a well known and respected hands-on Food, Beverage and Laundry Facility Planning and Equipment Consultant, writer and Speaker, who received his entree into the Industry while working with the late Jay Sarno on the development of Caesar’s Palace and Circus Circus in the early 1960’s

He is actively involved as an Associate Member of NIGA, American Society of Professional Estimators, CNIGA and other Industry Groups. Bernie travels extensively working with major Casino’s Hotels and Resorts as part of the team of Designers, Architects, General Contractors and all of those involved in a Project to ensure that the best interests of the Owner/Developer are served.

Mr. Otis is actively involved in local and community affairs, is a trained Hospice Volunteer and Pas President of two Rotary Clubs. In 1978 he was among the founding volunteers who established the world famous Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1980 he was the volunteer who was assigned the task of family notification during the tragic MGM fire in Las Vegas.

His unique insight into how to avoid costly change orders and meet realistic deadlines, while planning cost efficient F&B facilities has won him much acclaim. Kamran and Company, a Certified “WBE” is proud of its ability to help with the planning, equipment purchasing and installation for such Indian Gaming Facilities as Pechanga, Thunder Valley, Chukchansi and Chumash, to name a few.

Adam Blumberg is one of the leading Food Service Design Consultants in the Country. In his close to 20 years in the industry he has been involved in operations, design and construction, including a three year European style apprenticeship of which two years was in back of the house training under a Certified Master Chef and one year front of the house.

For 12 years he held positions with Bally’s and, The Dunes Hotel & casino, as well as The Savioa Restaurant & Casino as Assistant Restaurant Manager, Room Service Manager, Operational Analyst, Food & Beverage Manager, Catering Director and General Manager.

Adam has been featured in the People Section of Casino journal and has not only a hands on working knowledge of Food & Beverage operational needs, but a clear understanding of the Design aspects of the Industry. His vast knowledge and experience has contributed to the successful openings of such well known Hotel Casinos as Paris Casino Resort and Hard Rock Hotel expansion.

His prestigious project list earned him national acclaim and recognition by the Food Service Industry. In 2005 he was honored at the National Restaurant Association Conference for the Food Service Facility Design of the year. He has been and continues to be involved in numerous Indian Casino projects.

He believes that “There is no substitute for hands on experience”

His projects have included Disney’s California Adventure, Ameristar Hotel/Casino and Spotlight 209 Casino. He has recently completed major work on Westfield Shopping Center in Woodland Hills, Ca, numerous Hotel, Restaurants and major buffet and industrial catering facilities

Marty Miles, former Corporate Vice President Food & Beverage for Harrah's Entertainment, where he played a major role in developing the organizations highly successful F*B Concepts. Marty uses his vast knowledge and experience to show operators of Casinos, Conference Centers, Country Clubs and other venues how to plan, budget and operate their F&B facilities so that they make a positive financial contribution to the bottom line.

His F&B Management Recruiting expertise has brought proven to be highly successful. He is a member of the International Food & Beverage Forum, has spoken at numerous Universities and Industry Conferences and holds a degree in Restaurant Institutional Management from Purdue University and is a Certified Hotel Administrator and Food & Beverage Executive.

Marty's ability to understand specific targeted market needs has helped him to developing menus that fit that need. His services include, but are not limited to hiring and training staff, establishing cost efficient work schedules and structuring purchasing agreements.

Wayne has over 30 years of experience working on a wide range of national and local projects across many industries. Through Wayne’s leadership, Roel has received numerous awards and distinctions including the number two national ranking in the 2006 Construction Safety Excellence Award (CSEA), ranking 29th in the 2007 Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 400 Contractors listing and the Better Business Bureau’s 2006 Torch Award for Marketplace ethics.

More than 89% of Wayne’s projects have been completed utilizing the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) delivery method including numerous fast-track projects. He is very involved in local and national community affairs and a sponsor of outreach programs and foundations such as YMCA, YWCA, The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy, to name a few.

Among Roel’s diversified many diversified projects are facilities for Boyd Gaming, Aqua Caliente, Morongo, Green Valley Ranch Station Casino. @9 Palms Las Vegas, Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and Barona Casino. Wayne is happy to be able to share his Knowledge of the Construction of Native American gaming facilities with NIGA Attendees.

Frank graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Notre dame with a Degree in Architecture. He directed the in-house departments of Resorts International and the Trump organization. As a the VO and Managing Principal of one of the worlds most highly recognized Architectural and Engineering firms he is directly involved with and oversees a large staff of Architects, interior Designers and related specialist.

Frank’s articles appear in The New York Times, Hospitality Design, Engineering News Record, Progressive Architecture and Hotel and Resort Industry. He is actively involved in Community service and takes a special interest in student life and well being. Mr. Dumont is Chairman of the Liberace Foundation For The Performing Arts and on Advisory Boards of both he University of Nevada College of Fine Arts and the Lied Library. He often opens his home to philanthropic Events and creates inspiring works for the Nevada Ballet Theatre.

Among the many Clients Frank and Leo A. Daly has, or is working with are; Odawa Casino Resort - Traverse City, MI, Pueblo Sandia - Albuquerque, NM, Cocopah Casino - Somerton, AZ, Casino Arizona -Phoenix, AX, Casino Del Sol – Tucson, AZ, Santa Ysabel Casino – San Diego, CA.

Dr. Waitley and Dr. Broach bring a wealth of knowledge from the field of organizational behavior and psychology, as well as from hands-on experience managing tribal casino training and organizational development departments.

Dr. Broach holds a dual Ph.D. in Clinical & Industrial Organizational Psychology and is a core adjunct faculty at National University in the subject of Training in Organizations. She has worked as an executive coach, utilizing feedback assessments for a leadership team of top government officials. She holds a number of tribal gaming certifications and was instrumental in designing successful management, supervisory and customer service academies.

As a published author, Dr. Waitley holds a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology and has led major talent management, leadership development and organizational improvement initiatives for such companies as AIG, Turner Broadcasting, Cox Communications and GTE/Verizon. Most recently for Viejas Enterprises, she directed the organizational development and training department, along with the internal communications and marketing department, to help drive change, productivity and employee engagement.

Bill Schwartz founded System Concepts, Inc. in 1980, and was instrumental in the development of the FOOD-TRAK System, a combination of consulting services, techniques, software and training to effectively control food and beverage inventory. While Bill's FOOD-TRAK system and its related techniques and processes are used by more than 10,000 clients around the world, Bill is also widely known as one of the industry's leading experts and most dynamic speakers on the topic of food and beverage inventory management, as well as the use (and misuse) of available technologies as they relate to F&B management.

A noted speaker for more than 25 years, Bill has developed and presented seminars for the National Restaurant Association, National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), the American Lodging Association, Club Managers Association of America (CMAA), Hospitality, Financial and Technical Professionals (HFTP) and other associations across the country and throughout the world. Through his seminars and articles, he revolutionized the process by which food and beverage inventory is managed.

One of the first to downplay the traditional use of food and beverage cost percentages to control inventory, he views them as inaccurate and largely meaningless numbers for purposes of controlling food and beverage inventories. Instead, Bill focuses on usage management, offering operators ways to improve cash flow and significantly reduce waste, theft and other types of food and beverage loss.

Bill's expertise and unique approach has lead to hundreds of speaking engagements and seminar presentations as well as the publication of numerous articles in hospitality-related trade publications including Indian Gaming Magazine.

Martin R. Baird has a passion for helping others succeed and he has devoted his career to that endeavor. Nearly 15 years ago, his company, Robinson & Associates, Inc., began carving out a niche in the gaming industry helping casinos improve their customer service. Baird’s theory, which holds true to this day, was that marketing can get guests to visit a casino but that they may not come back if their gaming experience is unsatisfactory. Over time, his vision for improved casino performance led him to bring an entirely new concept to the gaming industry – guest and employee advocacy.

Baird searched for an answer to a question he was repeatedly asked – what is a casino’s return on investment in customer service training and other internal improvement programs? It was a legitimate question and Baird found the answer in 2005 in research published in Harvard Business Review. The research shows there is no correlation between customer and employee satisfaction and the success of a business. The key is creation of customer and employee advocates, whose contribution to the bottom line can be measured. Later that year, Baird expanded his company’s business model to embrace advocacy and introduced his Advocate Index™. In 2006, he announced his Advocate Development System™.

Baird writes for several prominent gaming industry publications worldwide, including International Gaming & Wagering Business and Native American Casino in the U.S., Casino Review in England and Gaming for Africa. He also writes for such respected Web sites as Urbino.net and NativeBiz.com.

Robinson & Associates’ services, including specialty customer service training, management skills training, presentation skills training and “Train the Trainer,” Thier training programs enhance learning by making them participant centered, fun, entertaining and fast paced.

Scott A. Frost, President of Titan Nightlife Group, has an extensive background in building companies within the nightlife entertainment field. Titan Nightlife Group develops, operates and promotes upscale bars, ultra lounges, nightclubs, and entertainment- infused restaurant concepts for the exponentially growing Resort & Casino industry in Las Vegas and beyond. Mr. Frost is also a founder and former General Manager of VegasHotSpots.com, Las Vegas' premier nightlife entertainment VIP hosting and event planning company. VegasHotSpots.com hosted over 13,000 parties in Las Vegas and was behind several of Las Vegas’ hottest nightclub promotions.