OUR TEAM
MANAGEMENT TEAM
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
CEO
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
CFO
JORGE ZAIDAN | CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
Jorge has over 18 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 18 years of experience in Digital 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
SHARON LEE | DIRECTOR, STRATEGY
Sharon has over 12 years of experience in the restaurant industry and in Consumer Packaged Goods. Sharon was most recently the Director, Analytics & Insights at Subway, where she built and established the function in Canada to drive strategy grounded in data and consumer insights. Similarly, Sharon had played a critical role at the largest restaurant company in Canada, Tim Hortons, 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 various 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