CEO Newsletter
CEO Newsletter
Team,
I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone for sending me your 4th quarter plans recently. I was impressed, but not surprised, with the quality of the responses. And it was quite clear from the reports that I reviewed (every one of them), that our team has a firm grip on the reins of the business. I’m looking forward to seeing the positive impact and the strong finish we can achieve by maintaining our focus on the goals we set for ourselves.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been fortunate to have visited with several of our key clients along with many of our outstanding managers. With each visit I make, I’m completely blown away by the level of trust and loyalty that each of you have earned from our clients. It serves to reinforce our message that we truly make it better to be there for our guests and clients.
Please allow me to share some of the specifics from a few of my visits:
I had the opportunity to meet with our clients from Notre Dame, where we are facing a mandatory RFP process to retain our business. Our General Manager Jeremy Dildey and his team have done an incredible job of positioning Centerplate to retain this high profile account. Our operations client, Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Operations David Harr, set up meetings with the University’s Executive Vice President, John Affleck-Graves, and Athletic Director, John Swarbrick. The feedback was that we have a great team on the ground and they are appreciative of our efforts.
The same can be said about my meeting in Indianapolis with our client, Executive Director Barney Levengood, at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium. I think it’s safe to say that Barney is a no-nonsense guy, who knows exactly what he wants and gets right to the point. John Stockholm and his team deliver at the highest level each and every day – which by the way, is exactly what Barney expects.
I attended the annual Journey Home event at the Baltimore Convention Center where we are the presenting sponsor. I couldn’t have been more proud being seated next to Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and our client, Executive Director Peggy Daidakis, while Michael Barrett, Chef Jerry Infantino and the entire CP management team delivered a flawless and memorable event. All night long, I continued to receive compliments from the VIP guests who were mesmerized by the amazing hospitality.
On a recent Friday night, Dave Oberlander and I attended the 10 year anniversary of the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA. Several members of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) were in attendance. During the presentations ceremony, the leadership of the MCCA took time to thank Centerplate for our long term partnership and for the extraordinary leadership that our General Manager, Diane Leader, has provided for them. Needless to say, the event was outstanding!
A couple of weeks ago, I travelled to Denver to visit with Justin Kizima, our GM at Sports Authority Field, home of the Denver Broncos, and our client, Senior Vice President of Business Development Mac Freeman. At the time, the Broncos’ had extended their then perfect season to 7 – 0, by giving the GB Packer fans exactly what they deserved – great food and a beating on the gridiron! Mac is extremely pleased with the performance of Justin, Chef Chris DeJohn and the entire Centerplate team. Great job Justin!
And finally, while in Denver I also had the chance to visit with our client at the Colorado Convention Center, Executive Director Kent Rice. Again, forgive me for sounding redundant, but we had a lengthy discussion about the outstanding performance of our convention center team led by General Manager Todd Moore and Chef Carmen Callo – the culmination of a terrific trip to Colorado!
So by now it should be pretty clear to everyone, we have an awesome company and collectively, we really are “Better Together”. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer my thanks to all of you for making our company, Centerplate – Great!
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and I’ll see you soon…
