David Bagley is an Operating Partner for EMERGING. He has over thirty years of experience in corporate finance, operations management, profit improvement consulting, and financial advisory services specializing in franchise and the restaurant and hospitality industries. He has been recognized nationally for his work and won recognition for Turnaround of the Year and separately, M&A Advisor for Sale of the Year. Dave has managed or advised a variety of multiunit companies throughout his career including Popeyes, Santa Fe Cattle Company, The Clubhouse, Restaurants America, Bar Louie, Granite City Food & Brewery, Sonic Drive-In, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, Burger King, Restaurants Unlimited, and Giordano’s. He has served as CFO, COO and CEO, including both public and private boards.

Adam Breeden is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of F1® Arcade and is widely credited as the original pioneer of competitive social and experiential entertainment. Beginning his career as co-founder of the multi-award-winning cocktail bar and restaurant Lonsdale in London in 2002, he has since been recognised for his extraordinary commitments to the international hospitality industry and pioneering the combination of sports with technology to create unsurpassed innovative concepts, founding breakthrough concepts including Bounce, Flight Club, Puttshack, Hijingo, and F1® Arcade.

John is Founding Operating Partner and CEO of Buyers Edge Platform. Buyers Edge is the largest and most advanced data engines in the foodservice industry. They are the leading Software and Analytics company providing data-driven insights and technology to the foodservice industry. Buyers Edge connects entities throughout foodservice and empower them to run their businesses more efficiently by leveraging data and analytics.

With a knack for creating distinctive concepts, Randy DeWitt brings years of experience scaling over a dozen successful restaurant brands as founder and former CEO of FB Society. FB Society is nationally recognized for developing restaurant concepts spanning the fast casual, casual and polished-casual dining segments. The company currently operates nine brands across the country including Whiskey Cake, Ida Claire, The Ranch, Haywire, Sixty Vines, Mexican Sugar, Velvet Taco, Son of a Butcher and Nashville food hall concept Assembly Hall through its food hall division, The Food Hall Co

Sterling has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, leading start-ups and building solutions for long-standing unsolved problems. Sterling began his career in data analytics as an actuary in management consulting. His experience in data and client relationships, coupled with his passion for entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry, led him to establish Chowly. Sterling currently serves on the President’s Club of FSTEC, Advisory Council of RTN, Venture Partner at Emerging Venture Capital, and is an active angel investor in early-stage restaurant technology startups. He’s also co-hosted and frequently appears on the Hospitality Hangout, Tech Chef, and Kitchen Obsessed podcasts. And was recently named one of QSR Magazine’s “21 Digital Disruptors Shaping Restaurants in 2022.”

Mathew is the Founding Managing Partner of EMERGING. He has a passion for helping best in class restaurant and entertainment operators onto growing as recognized national leader in their category. Mathew has served hundreds of restaurant–entertainment founders and CEOs. Mathew is founder of EMERGING, Emerging Concepts, Consolidated Concepts, Acutely, and FB Insights. During his 25+ year career, he has led the growth of numerous early-stage concepts and technology investments to national scale.

Mathew has created operating companies that focus on capital, real estate, supply chain, technology, and reducing operating cost. Mathew has worked with following restaurants and entertainment concepts; Puttshack, F1 Arcade, Flight Club, Blue Sushi, Federales, Silverspot Cinema, Pour House, City Works, Doc B’s, The PUB, Levity Live, Improv Comedy Club, Bar Louie, Cheesecake Factory, Brio, Bravo, Blue Martini, Hyde Park Steakhouse, Lucky Strike, Houston’s, and many other restaurant and entertainment concepts.

Prior, Mathew was Vice President or Executive of RKF Retail Property Advisors, Sierra Advisors, Pyramid Companies, and Steiner & Associates providing comprehensive leasing, marketing, and consulting services to developers and emerging chains.

Mathew earned a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Real Estate and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Tim began his career as physicist, then ultimately building mathematical real estate models for McDonalds. He has 28 years of building the most advanced predictable models in real estate, site selection, sales projection, and cannibalization. His experiences include McDonalds, Chipotle, Boston Market, Redbox, and most recently Puttshack, Flight Club, Immersive Gamebox, Biscuit Belly, and many more emerging concepts.

G.J. Hart has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers since September 2022 and has served on the Board of Directors since August 2019. A highly regarded executive with nearly 40 years in the restaurant industry, including both public and private company experience, G.J. is well known for his organizational leadership skills, commitment to profitable growth, and ability to drive long term shareholder value.

G.J. most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Torchy's Tacos, a privately held fast-casual concept with more than 100 locations, from 2018 to 2021. He was previously the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of California Pizza Kitchen from 2011 to 2018, where he was responsible for its "Next Chapter" of growth with a program that infused a fresh, contemporary look, innovative menu, world-class service model and generated higher per store average sales and profitability. From 2000 to 2011, G.J. served as President of Texas Roadhouse Holdings, LLC and as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board from 2004 to 2011, where he oversaw unprecedented growth and expanded the business from 60 locations to over 450 restaurants in 49 states and two international markets, while increasing revenues from $63 million to over $1 billion. Earlier in his career, G.J. held leadership positions at Al Copeland Investments, TriFoods International, New Zealand Lamb Company, and Shenandoah Valley Poultry, among others.

Nick Hogan oversees the strategic and financial direction of Flagship Restaurant Group. Fueled by entrepreneurial instincts, world travel, and a habit for dining out, Nick aimed to establish a new dining experience for Omahans by way of sushi. At a time where supper clubs and corporate chain restaurants reigned supreme, the growing city demanded something exciting, original, and indicative of what Nick experienced in his travels. Nick was named one of the "Most Influential Restaurant CEOs in the Country” by the leading restaurant/food and beverage outlet, Nation's Restaurant News.

Adam Hood brings a diverse background spanning restaurants, technology, and the biomedical field. For more than five years, he has worked at Buyers Edge Platform within the Beyond Broadline department, representing ancillary programs and supporting operators nationwide.

During his time at Buyers Edge, Adam developed a strong ability to navigate brand portfolios, build meaningful client relationships, and communicate effectively with operators by speaking their language. He previously served in vendor management, helping introduce and scale impactful solutions for operators, including those within the Emerging portfolio.

In his current role, partnered with Buyers Edge Platform and EMERGING, Adam is focused on building a strong foundation and growing EMERGING portfolio companies within the Buyers Edge ecosystem - creating long-term value for operators and partners alike

Kyle Kavanaugh has been pairing retailers and restaurants with real estate since 1987. Kyle founded Main+Main Inc. to expand his scope and to manifest his philosophy that partnership, coupled with industry knowledge, begets success… and success attracts top professionals. On that notion, he cultivated a team of leading agents in dynamic markets and set out to systematically extend the reach of retail real estate programs throughout North America. - Today, Main+Main has gathered some of the highest-performing associates in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Orange County. It boasts an exclusive client list of 40+ established and nascent brands, predominantly in the Retail and Food & Beverage category. As the founding partner, Kyle is the primary guidance of the group and assists many of its clients with real estate expansion and development.

Theodore L. Koenig currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Monroe Capital LLC. Mr. Koenig also serves as the Chairman and CEO of Monroe Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: MRCC), a publicly traded business development company (BDC); and as Chairman, Director and CEO of Monroe Capital Income Plus Corporation. Monroe Capital LLC (“Monroe”) is a premier asset management firm specializing in private credit markets across various strategies, including direct lending, technology finance, venture debt, alternative credit solutions, structured credit, real estate and equity. Monroe has been recognized by both its peers and investors with various awards including Private Debt Investor as the 2024 Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Year, Americas and 2023 Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Decade; Inc.’s 2024 Founder-Friendly Investors List; Global M&A Network as the 2023 Lower Mid-Markets Lender of the Year, U.S.A.; DealCatalyst as the 2022 Best CLO Manager of the Year; Korean Economic Daily as the 2022 Best Performance in Private Debt – Mid Cap; Creditflux as the 2021 Best U.S. Direct Lending Fund; and Pension Bridge as the 2020 Private Credit Strategy of the Year.

Mr. Koenig is a graduate of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (B.S.) in accounting with high honors and Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D.) with honors. He also successfully passed the Certified Public Accounting Exam. Mr. Koenig is a Director of the Secured Finance Network, and a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the Association for Corporate Growth. Mr. Koenig also serves on the Board of Trustees, Naples Children & Education Foundation; as Director on the Northwestern Medical Group Board of Directors and the Northwestern Medical HealthCare Investment Committee; Board of Trustees, Illinois Institute of Technology; Dean’s Advisory Council, Kelley School of Business at Indiana University; and Board of Advisors, Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Mr. Koenig is a frequent lecturer to various business and financial organizations and has published numerous articles in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate and leverage buyout finance, and general business and economic trends.

Peter Kratsios is the Managing Director, Experiential Strategic Growth, at Emerging Fund, where he collaborates with Leadership Teams to grow beyond brick-and-mortar locations.

As a former founder and first employee, Peter brings a deep passion for building and scaling global businesses. At Topgolf, Peter developed and led the go-to-market strategy for Topgolf Swing Suite, expanding the business to over 175 locations worldwide, working closely with Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Host Hotels, Aimbridge Hospitality, MGM, Delaware North and many other Global Hospitality and Entertainment groups.

Peter graduated from Gettysburg College with a B.A. in Business Management, where he was also a four-year starter on the golf team.

Amy has extensive real estate industry experience working closely with small businesses to build and maintain the most effective accounting systems and strategies. In 2017, she was awarded LinkedIn's Profinder Best of Accounting Consultants

Rom Krupp is a visionary, disruptor, and thought leader with over 24 years of experience innovating technologies for the restaurant and hospitality industries. Prior to launching OneDine Rom founded Marketing Vitals, the most comprehensive analytics solution specifically developed for the restaurant industry and currently used in over 200 brands around the world to drive top-line sales. An official member of the Forbes Business Council, Rom’s passion is to help drive growth in the restaurant industry while maintaining a purpose-driven culture.

Steve Lane is a Managing Director of International Growth with over 25 years of global leadership experience in hospitality, entertainment, and food & beverage. Known for his ability to scale businesses across international markets, he has built a reputation for launching innovative concepts and cultivating award-winning cultures that prioritize both guest experience and employee engagement.

Throughout his career, Steve has led the international growth of several iconic brands. At F1 Arcade, he spearheaded the brand’s global expansion through a franchise model, executing on its initial market strategy. Prior to that, as Vice President of International at Topgolf, he was instrumental in driving the company’s worldwide footprint—securing partners for more than 100 venues across five continents. Earlier in his career, he transformed Catalina UK into a $10M profit market, making it the company’s top-performing region outside the U.S.

Steve’s leadership is anchored in building trusted, high-performing teams and delivering exceptional outcomes for partners and customers alike. He holds a BSc (Hons) in French & Economics from the University of Surrey and is fluent in both English and French. Beyond his professional endeavors, Steve is passionate about motorsports, skiing, and performance coaching—pursuits that reflect his energy and drive for excellence .

Scott co-founded bartaco in 2010 with Andy Pforzheimer and Sasa Maher-Batuz. In June of 2018 they sold the company to Del Frisco's Restaurant group. In 2020 Scott came back to the brand as CEO to run it again after L Catterton bought it from DFRG. Lawton has rich experience and success in building strong brands for the groups he has worked for. Most recently and notably he cofounded and directed all operations for the wildly successful bartaco brand.

Founded in 1989 with the iconic Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse on Rush Street, Gibsons Restaurant Group has been dedicated to providing unmatched hospitality, quality, and value to its customers. Gibsons Restaurant Group owns and operates these distinguished concepts: Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House, LUXBAR, Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar, Gibsons Italia, The BOATHOUSE Orlando, Hugo’s Frog Bar & Chop House (on behalf of Rivers Casino), Bazaar Meat Chicago, Bar Mar, and Café By The River. Gibsons has been ranked by Restaurant Business magazine consistently having a 10th-top grossing independent restaurant in the country.

Founded in 1989 with the iconic Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse on Rush Street, Gibsons Restaurant Group has been dedicated to providing unmatched hospitality, quality, and value to its customers. Gibsons Restaurant Group owns and operates these distinguished concepts: Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House, LUXBAR, Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar, Gibsons Italia, The BOATHOUSE Orlando, Hugo’s Frog Bar & Chop House (on behalf of Rivers Casino), Bazaar Meat Chicago, Bar Mar, and Café By The River. Gibsons has been ranked by Restaurant Business magazine consistently having a 10th-top grossing independent restaurant in the country.

Julie Martin is the Chief Financial Officer at EMERGING, where she leads financial strategy and operations across a portfolio of hospitality and entertainment ventures. She brings over 15 years of experience in private capital markets with deep expertise in food, agribusiness, and controlled environment agriculture.

Prior to EMERGING, Julie was Managing Partner at FSF Ventures, an early-stage impact fund focused on expanding access to healthy, affordable food. She led the fund’s design and development—including investment strategy, vehicle structuring, pipeline building, and all investor materials. FSF was actively fundraising at the time of her transition.

Previously, Julie served as Finance Director at Grow Forward, an evergreen investment firm focused on sustainable food and ag-tech. She supported the firm’s transition to an evergreen model and guided portfolio companies through key growth phases and successful exits.

Julie is a registered CPA and earned her degree from Loyola University Chicago. She is known for her ability to translate bold ideas into structured investment strategies and build trusted relationships across founders and investors alike.

Matt Menna is Founding Operating Partner and Managing Principal at Sterling Bay. Sterling Bay is a national real estate company managing a portfolio that exceeds $20 billion in assets. By constructing connected and collaborative spaces for world-class companies such as Google, McDonald’s, and Dyson, we have garnered a reputation for enhancing culture and creating economic opportunity. While our portfolio ranges from life sciences laboratories to luxury apartments, at the core of each project is a thoughtful design and a hospitality-led approach.

Damian Mogavero is the founder of Avero and now launching Vanta Hospitality platform. Mogavero created Avero to empower food and beverage operators to make faster, smarter and profitable decisions, while providing outstanding service to their guests. As CEO, Mogavero led Avero for 17 years and was recognized by Fast Company as one of 10 innovations of past century changed how we eat. Mogavero is the author of the book The Underground Culinary Tour, recipient of the Cornell Hospitality Innovator Award.

Andrew Peskoe is an active private investor in early-stage companies, principally in the hospitality, media and technology sectors. He is also an investor in a number of venture capital and private equity funds and is a principal in two technology venture capital groups. He’s investments and representation include Seven Rooms, Bento Box, Wisely, BarTaco, Momofuku, and Noma.

Andy is Chairman of the Golenbock law firm and co-head of the firm’s Corporate and Food, Beverage & Hospitality practice groups. Besides leading one of the country’s premier food, beverage and hospitality teams, Andy’s practice focuses on the representation of private and public emerging growth companies, venture capital funds, private equity funds and strategic investors, including technology transfer and licensing, leverage buyouts, venture capital and “growth equity” financings, and joint ventures. Andy works with companies and funds in the fields of food and hospitality, consumer products, new media and technology, bio-tech, financial services, logistics, investment management, and communications.

Hudson manages the product development and operations teams. He uses his extensive background in team building and project management to deliver high quality products and customer service to clients and investments.

Hudson has held senior roles at leading interactive companies and gamification for over 20 years. He has managed multiple Mobile Gaming Groups and responsible for client management and overall direction of several apps in parallel. Has extensive history with product vision, client coordination and project management for games, educational apps and consumer branded mobile apps.

Padma Rao is an entrepreneur who brings expertise in driving
revenue growth through customer acquisition and retention.
A true interdisciplinary executive, Padma’s technical background,
analytical approach, and business acumen have produced
impressive results for an array of companies across industries.
Padma was VP Partnerships of Grubhub, CMO Tapingo, and Head
of Marketing at Zynga.

Scott Redler is a restaurant industry veteran with over 45 years of experience as a franchisor, owner, and operator. Redler is Co-founder of the Kansas-based fast-casual restaurant concept Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers. In 2002, Redler launched Freddy’s along with his business partners Bill and Randy Simon. After franchising in 2004, Freddy’s has grown to over 450 locations serving 36 states across the nation. With a majority sale of Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in early 2021, Redler has focused his time with on assisting many budding restaurant concepts and serves on many profit and non profit boards.

Redler has been instrumental in developing over 20 different concepts throughout his distinguished career in the hospitality industry ranging from upscale full service restaurants to business and institutional dining.
Redler’s vast knowledge of restaurant ownership and operations has made him a sought-out professional in the industry. An IFMA Silver Plate Award recipient, he currently serves as an officer on the Board of the National Restaurant Association, advocating for and representing restaurant industry interests with policymakers at all levels along with many other philanthropy boards.

David Schwab is the President of The Chris Paul Collective—focused on scaling the reach and impact of Chris Paul’s expanding portfolio of business ventures and philanthropic initiatives. In this capacity, Schwab partners with the leaders of the Collective’s core verticals—CP3, LLC; Good Eat’n, Paul’s fast-growing snack brand; Ohh Dipp!!! Entertainment; The Chris Paul Family Foundation; CP3 Investments; The Playbook Group; and Paul’s NBA business team—to align operations, drive growth, and unlock opportunities across culture, commerce, and community.

Schwab brings more than 25 years of leadership experience from Octagon, the global sports and entertainment agency, where he founded and built First Call—one of the industry’s earliest influencer marketing divisions. His team facilitated thousands of brand and celebrity partnerships across sports, entertainment, and culture. His expertise lies at the intersection of brand relevance and business growth, advising Fortune 100 companies, high-growth startups, global nonprofits, and athlete-led ventures.

He launched the Celebrity Advisory Board for Ronald McDonald House Charities, led the national Fruits, Vegetables, and Let’s Move! celebrity campaign for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Partnership for a Healthier America, and has supported initiatives for UNICEF, St. Jude, Breakthrough T1D, and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

Schwab and his wife, Erika, have been married for 28 years and are the proud parents of three children—Kate, Elizabeth, and Matthew—and a golden retriever named Skipper.

With over 12 years of experience in start-ups and publicly traded companies, Hilary has a proven track record in scaling businesses, driving strategic projects, and negotiating successful deals. Her experiences are across a range of start ups and publicly traded companies such as Grubhub, Just Eat Takeaway, Choco, Tapingo as well as consulting for many startups on their Go-to-Market strategy. Hilary has led and assisted with BD deals with large companies like: Aramark, Sodexo, Starbucks, and Chick-fil-A, Bacardi, and ABI. She has extensive experience negotiating and providing great outcomes in gaming, sports, alcohol, food supply chain, logistics, and restaurants.

Jim Sofranko is a seasoned executive and entrepreneurial leader with over two decades of experience at the intersection of live entertainment, ticketing, e-commerce, and hospitality. He played a pivotal role in scaling Groupon’s “Things To Do” vertical to over $1 billion in gross bookings, transforming how consumers discover and purchase experiences on the platform.

Prior to joining EMERGING, Jim served as EVP, Head of Attractions at FEVO, where he launched and led a new business unit focused on enterprise partnerships with global attractions, tour operators, and ticketing platforms. Earlier in his career, he oversaw revenue and marketing for the Chicago Blackhawks, building deep expertise in professional sports strategy, premium partnerships, and large-scale venue operations.

At EMERGING, Jim brings a unique blend of operational experience and forward-looking vision—particularly in how AI and modern infrastructure are reshaping commerce across entertainment, hospitality, and destination-based sectors. His leadership in distribution strategy, partner monetization, and go-to-market execution has consistently helped brands unlock growth, accelerate innovation, and turn ambitious ideas into scalable business outcomes.

Jay Stieber is executive vice president and general counsel of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, which operates over 40 concepts in more than 130 locations in 11 states. Stieber is past Chairman National Restaurant Ass., Founding Chair Restaurant Law Center, and Executive Board, and past Chairman Illinois Restaurant Association.

Joshua Tackett is a seasoned technology executive specializing in restaurant AI, software engineering, and large-scale technology transformations. As Chief Technology Officer of Buyers Edge Platform, he led the company’s transition from a traditional GPO to a market-leading data and analytics platform serving over 400,000 restaurants. Drawing on over a decade of software engineering experience, Joshua has spearheaded innovative projects such as deploying a patented AI-driven machine learning engine to optimize purchasing decisions and drive measurable industry efficiencies. His leadership has shaped high-performing teams of more than 200 engineers, delivering scalable software solutions and overseeing technology for 34 brands with over $70 billion in annual purchasing data.

Joshua’s strategic acumen extends beyond technology into corporate growth, having been instrumental in raising $1.1 billion in capital from Blackstone and General Atlantic, and completing acquisitions ranging from $2 million to $250 million. He has led technical due diligence for over 20 acquisitions and played a pivotal role in integrating more than 10 companies across five years, expanding the organization’s footprint in North America and Europe. His earlier career as CTO at FoodBAM and senior software developer roles honed his expertise in building scalable restaurant technology platforms and AI solutions. A recognized thought leader, Joshua has been a featured speaker at AWS:Reinvent, NRA Supply Chain Expert Exchange, and other industry events, earning multiple awards for innovation and leadership.

Max has a lifetime of food & beverage experience. His parents started an internationally successful and publicly traded restaurant company, where he worked as a front line employee growing up. After graduating college with a degree in management & real estate, he went to work with Denver based Developers in the Beer & Food Hall industry. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was called back to the family business. For the next 3 years Max worked on the Real Estate, COVID Response, and Procurement Teams helping take the company to new heights as an industry leader. After the passing of his father, Max decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities such as working with Emerging and his family's foundation. He is currently helping with raising capital, strategic initiatives and introducing our tech concepts to industry leading companies.