OUR TEAM

Our leadership team is comprised of veteran restaurant industry executives, operators and experts, hand selected for their deep verticals of industry knowledge and proven track records in identifying and capitalizing on growth opportunities. In close collaboration with each brand's dedicated management team, we safeguard our brands' unique strengths while applying best practices and proven growth formulas drawn from our operational expertise, proprietary systems and best-in-class data and analytics.

FELIPE ATHAYDE |  CEO

Felipe has over 20 years of experience in building winning teams, growing global brands, and developing high-performance cultures. He spent almost a decade at Restaurant Brands International, having served in several capacities, including President of Popeyes Americas, where he spearheaded the launch of the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich, widely recognized as one of the most successful product launches in the history of quick-service restaurants. He also served as President of Burger King Latin America and as President of Tim Hortons USA. Felipe is a former CEO and Director of Regis Corporation, the world’s largest network of hair salon brands. He also worked as a Business Leader in the strategy department for Visa Inc. Latin America, and as a bond trader for multiple financial institutions in the United States and Singapore. He received a BA from Fundação Getulio Vargas, and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Felipe Athayde

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

DARIO SACOMANI | CFO

Dario has over 35 years of experience in operations and finance.  Most recently he was the Managing Director at Sacomani & Associates, an interim CFO services firm focused primarily on PE-backed enterprises , which he started in January 2010.  Prior to that, Dario had 25 years of experience in the Semiconductor industry leading the leveraged buyout and IPO of ON Semiconductor and serving as CFO of three large publicly traded technology companies.

Dario Sacomani

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

JORGE ZAIDAN | CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

Jorge has over 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry and in management consulting. Jorge was the Founder and Managing Director of WeRide & Co., a management consulting company assisting clients in Canada and the US in Strategy, Marketing Analytics and Finance. Jorge is a former executive at Restaurant Brands International (“RBI”), where he last served as Head of Marketing Tim Hortons Canada, the largest restaurant company in the country. He also led the integration of Tim Hortons into the RBI portfolio and subsequently built the Marketing Analytics team to support data-driven decision making. Prior to Tim Hortons, Jorge was the Head of Innovation for Burger King North America and led its Analytics team. He also worked at Accenture for 9 years in its Strategy practice supporting clients in the US and Latin America. He received a B.Eng. from Escola de Engenharia Mauá in Brazil, and an MBA from INSEAD in France and Singapore.

JORGE ZAIDAN

CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

KEVIN NEMETH | CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER

Kevin has over 20 years of experience in Digital and Marketing roles across a variety of verticals. Kevin was most recently at Restaurant Brands International as Head of Digital for Popeyes. Kevin spearheaded growing the brand from 4% Digital Sales to ~20% Digital Sales in two years, created and launched the brand's first-ever loyalty program (Popeyes Rewards), and increased the size of the Digital team 7x to drive sales growth. Prior to that, Kevin held senior roles at major companies such as TD Bank, L'Oreal, and The Home Shopping Network ("HSN"). He received his B.S in Media Studies from Radford University in Virginia.

KEVIN NEMETH

CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER

SEAN GERATY | VP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Sean has over 10 years of experience as an investment professional, all of which has been dedicated to covering the restaurant industry. Sean was the Director of Business Development for Hargett Hunter Capital, a lower-middle market private equity firm focused on investing in restaurant and restaurant-adjacent businesses. Sean is a former Director of Investment Banking at Geraty Investments, a boutique investment banking firm with an exclusive focus on the restaurant sector. During his time at Geraty, Sean advised founders, management teams and ownership groups on numerous sell-side and buy-side M&A transactions. He received a B.B.A. from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

SEAN GERATY

VP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

LIS SILVEIRA | VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE

Lis has over 13 years of progressive experience overseeing all aspects of Finance, Accounting, Tax, and Risk Management in the restaurant industry. Lis was most recently Chief Financial Officer at PJW Restaurant Group, one of ARB’s portfolio brands, where she led the acquisition diligence process on the Seller side. Additionally, during her 3-year tenure with PJW Restaurant Group, Lis revamped and established new financial reporting practices to support the brand’s future growth and to drive results through enhanced operational insights. Lis started her career with the Altamarea Group, a fine dining multi-concept operator, and she has since held several Finance leadership roles in the Franchising and QSR spaces including Paris Baguette America, Just Salad, and Dos Toros Taqueria. She received her BS in Accounting from Hunter College in New York City.

Lis Silveira

VP, FINANCE

SHARON LEE | DIRECTOR, STRATEGY

Sharon has over 14 years of experience across the restaurant and consumer packaged goods industries. As the Director of Analytics & Insights at Subway, she built and established the function in Canada to drive strategy grounded in data and consumer insights. Similarly, Sharon played a critical role at Tim Hortons, the largest restaurant company in Canada, shortly following its integration into the Restaurant Brands International ("RBI") portfolio. Upon building the Canada Marketing Analytics team, she further developed the Tim Hortons US Marketing Analytics team. Prior to that, Sharon has held progressive roles at Hershey, Energizer and Playtex Products. She received a B.Sc. Chemical Engineering and B.A. Economics (minor) from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in Canada.

SHARON LEE

DIRECTOR, STRATEGY

JACK THOMPSON | DIRECTOR, STRATEGY & ANALYTICS

Jack has 7 years of experience holding various Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) and Data & Analytics roles. He started his career as a Business Consulting Associate at Ernst & Young LLP in Philadelphia within their Enterprise Risk Management practice. He later joined CFGI as a Consulting Manager in their Business Transformation Practice, focusing on FP&A and Data & Analytics. Jack was most recently the FP&A Manager at PJW Restaurant Group, one of ARB’s portfolio brands, a newly created role where he helped lead the buildout of the Finance and Data & Analytics function. He received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Business Intelligence & Analytics from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, an MBA from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey and currently holds a Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA) certification from Corporate Finance Institute.

Jack Thompson

DIRECTOR, STRATEGY & ANALYTICS

BRYAN GRISARD | DIRECTOR, FP&A

Bryan has over 8 years of experience in various Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) and Business Analytics roles across the restaurant, retail and publishing industries. He was most recently Senior Manager of FP&A at Maple Street Biscuit Company, a subsidiary of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store where he helped lead the annual budget process, provided strategic insights to operations and played a critical role developing and maintaining a robust analytics function. He received an MBA from Middle Tennessee State University and a Bachelor in Business Administration in Economics from Belmont University.

BRYAN GRISARD

DIRECTOR, FP&A

JEFF GRANT | LEAD DATA ENGINEER

As a Senior Data Engineer at FreshBooks, he lead the rebuild of their financial data pipelines with an eye toward robust and accurate financial reporting. Similarly, Jeff was essential in standing up the data infrastructure at the Toronto Star to provide much needed insights into content and customer analytics. Prior to that, he was heavily involved in running production data pipelines for Business Intelligence teams at Bell Canada and the Bank of Montreal.

He received an M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Calgary, and a B.Sc. Engineering Physics from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in Canada.

JEFF GRANT

Lead Data Engineer

RACHEL SAVAGE | MANAGER, F&A

Rachel has over 10 years of experience in corporate finance across Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, and Human Resource Management working for several Fortune 500 companies. She was most recently a Senior FP&A Analyst at ADP, where she managed $650M+ in annual revenue and was selected to a financial leadership rotational program. Prior to ADP, Rachel was a Senior Analyst with Techtronic Industries and Project Controller for Magna International. She has an MBA from Clemson University and a B.A. in Finance from Michigan State University.

Rachel Savage

Manager, F&A

RENAN PENELUPPI | MANAGER, STRATEGY & ANALYTICS

Renan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management and a Diploma of Data Science. With extensive experience in the luxury hospitality and sporting goods industries, he leverages analytical skills and tools to deliver data-driven insights. Before joining ARB, Renan was a key member of Canadian Tire Corporation’s data team, which developed the engine allowing product relationships to be formed based on product attributes, replacing a number of outsourced resources with in-house tools. Prior to that, he held Data Analytics and Account Management roles at Cervelo Cycles and Shimano Latin America.

Renan Peneluppi

MANAGER, STRATEGY & ANALYTICS