Gary J. Beisler
Chief Executive Officer and President
Gary has 28 years experience in the quick service restaurant industry. He is the President & CEO of Qdoba Restaurant Corporation and has been developing Qdoba Mexican Grill for eight years. Prior to joining Qdoba he was the Senior Vice President of Operations for Rally's Hamburger and was integral in growing that chain of 488 restaurants over a ten year period. He has been directly involved with three start-up restaurant companies.
Richard Pugh
Chief Operating Officer
Richard brings 22 years of food service experience to Qdoba®. Richard previously served as a Regional Vice President for Rally's Corporation, where he was responsible for improving the financial performance of a 100-restaurant region into the most profitable region in the Rally's corporate system. Prior to working with Rally's Corporation, Richard spent eight years as the Director of Operations for a 10-unit franchise that generated the highest unit volumes in the Rally's franchise system. Richard also served for eight years as a Store Operator and Training Coordinator for a successful multi-unit Wendy's franchisee.
Karen Guido
Vice President of Marketing
Karen joined Qdoba® in June 1998. For eight years prior to 1998, Karen served as the Director of Marketing for Village Inn Restaurants ("Vicorp Restaurants, Inc."). At Vicorp, Karen directed the development and implementation of a $3 million marketing budget for more than 200 corporate and franchise restaurants. Her experience includes market research, the production of advertising and marketing materials for TV, radio, print, newspaper, and internal collateral. Prior to working with Vicorp, she was a Regional Marketing Manager for Domino's Pizza, where she managed marketing for over 300 restaurants.
Eric Grundmeier
Vice President of Purchasing and Distribution
Eric joined Qdoba® in October 1998. Prior to joining Qdoba®, Eric was Director of Purchasing for Einstein/Noah Bagel Corporation. At Einstein/Noah Bagel Corporation, Eric was responsible for managing more than $50 million in annual food purchases supporting 540 stores. His experience includes managing food service distribution and purchasing bakery ingredients, meats, dairy, produce, beverages, baked goods and general grocery items. Prior to working with Einstein/Noah Bagel Corporation, Eric served as Director of Commodity Purchasing for Vicorp Restaurants, Inc.
Peder T. Kruger
Vice President of Development and Construction
As a veteran in the development and construction field, Peder has 20 years of experience in restaurant development, most recently spending eight years with Boston Market as their Vice President, Design and Construction. Prior to Boston Market, Peder had been with Camelot Foods, Round Table Pizza, and Jack in the Box restaurant chains in development and construction management. Peder holds a BS, Architecture from California Polytechnic State University.
Mike Speck
Vice President, Human Resources and Training
Mike has over 20 years in Human Resources, Training and Operations in casual dining and QSR in both corporate and franchise national high growth companies. Prior to joining Qdoba® in May 2004 Mike held positions as the Chief People Officer with a startup franchise for Cici's Pizza in Denver, CO, Vice President of Human Resources for Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc in Greenwood Village, CO and Vice President of Human Resources/Training for Mayfair Partners, L.P, an important franchisee of Boston Market and Einstein Bros Bagels located in the Washington DC metro area. Mike's experience in successful growth ventures comes from his time supporting operations at Mayfair Partners, L.P. where the franchise grew to over 120 locations in under 4 years and at Red Robin where the company grew from 3,000 hourly team members to over 10,000 during his tenure. Mike has also been involved with Applebee's, CEC Entertainment and Steak and Ale where he held Human Resources, Training, Single and Multi-Unit Operations accountabilities. Mike has also been a past chairperson for the National Restaurant Association HR Executive group.
Todd L. Owen
Vice President of Franchise Development
Qdoba® brought its franchising in-house with the welcomed addition of Todd Owen in May 2001. Todd's experience spanned 11 years in key sales and management positions with Orion Food Systems, Taco Bell Corp. and Pepsi-Cola. As Regional Director of Franchise Development for Orion, Todd championed franchise expansion by developing and executing a program to rapidly expand single unit operators to multi unit developers. As Express Sales Manager for Taco Bell, Todd expanded regional brand presence, developed national accounts and was extensively involved in Yum! Brands co-branding development initiative and development of non-traditional venues. His extensive background in franchise development also includes experience with new business development, marketing, strategic planning and site analysis. Todd holds a BBA degree in Marketing from Iowa State University.
Bill McMillan
Vice President of Information Technology
Bill joined Qdoba® in September 2001 as Director of Information Technology and was promoted to Vice President in September 2004. In these roles he has led the rapid transformation of all restaurant information systems and guides the development and management of all internal business systems, computing infrastructure and restaurant information-reporting systems, enabling sales and data management for the entire Qdoba® Restaurant Corporation system. Bill has more than 20 years operations and information technology experience including positions as; Director of Restaurant Systems and Operations Manager with Sydran Services, LLC., a Burger King and Chili's franchisee, and Business Consultant with MacD INC., a McDonald's franchisee.
Bruce J. Vermilyea
Vice President, Controller
Bruce joined Qdoba® in December 1998 as Assistant Controller. Bruce was promoted to Controller in 2001 and most recently to Vice President. Prior to joining Qdoba®, Bruce served as the Controller for a precious metals mining company. His experience includes financial planning and analysis, cash management, administration of human resources, and risk management planning. Bruce holds BS degrees in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Phoenix.