Leading Our Team

Ron Paul, President
Ron Paul founded Technomic over 40 years ago. As President and CEO, he directs the
firm and all its research and consulting engagements, covering almost every aspect of
the foodservice business. Ron has written extensively about management and marketing
topics, as well as a broad range of food and foodservice issues. He is a frequent
industry speaker and is often quoted in trade, news and business media, including the
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, CNN-TV
and CNBC-TV.

Bob Goldin, Executive Vice President
Bob Goldin has over 25 years of broad-based food industry experience, working as
a consultant, researcher and industry executive. He leads Technomic's Food Supplier
Practice Group, where he directs a wide range of projects for food manufacturers,
distributors and related suppliers. Bob also has consulted extensively in nontraditional
channels, including club stores and vending.

Darren Tristano, Executive Vice President
Since 1993, Darren Tristano has been charged with the development and management of Technomic's Information Services division, where he also serves as a restaurant industry analyst and subject matter expert specializing in major national restaurant chain concept and menu development, and smaller emerging regional chains. His business unit develops many  "industry standard" intelligence sources, including the Digital Resource Library, MenuMonitor, PriceMonitor and Technomic's Top 500 Leading Chain Restaurant report. Darren is often quoted in trade, news and business media.

Gary Karp, Executive Vice President
Gary Karp has over 33 years' food industry experience, serving in general and senior
management positions in marketing, sales, public relations, purchasing, strategic planning
and category management. His experience spans foodservice, retail, convenience stores,
club stores, vending, processing and distribution.

Alan Hyatt, Vice President
Twenty-year foodservice veteran Alan Hyatt is responsible for the development of common-interest research studies, which provide Technomic's clients with actionable data that serves strategic and tactical plans. Additionally, his responsibilities include proprietary consulting and research in the areas of customer satisfaction, benchmarking, brand equity, sales process, broker effectiveness, competitive analysis and go-to-market strategy development and execution.

Joe Pawlak, Vice President
Joseph Pawlak, a veteran of Technomic for over 20 years, has conducted a wide variety of food
industry studies involving market planning, customer satisfaction benchmarking, new
product development, food trends, opportunity analyses, acquisition evaluations, concept
testing and analyses of distribution systems. Notably, Pawlak has expertise in the areas
of food technology, distribution, and brand equity analysis.

Neil Z. Stern, Senior Partner, McMillan|Doolittle
Neil is a senior partner of McMillan|Doolittle, an affiliate of Technomic that specializes in strategic planning and the development of new retail concepts. A recognized thought leader in the retail arena, Neil is editor of Retail Watch, widely regarded as the premier publication on new concepts and trends. His first book, Winning At Retail, was published in 2004.

Melissa Wilson, Principal
With more than 17 years consulting experience, Melissa Wilson brings solutions to chain
restaurant operators focusing on marketing strategy and improving unit-level restaurant
sales. Prior to joining Technomic, Melissa was President of Tom Feltenstein's Neighborhood
Marketing Institute's Consulting Division, directing marketing and business expansion
activities for a number of top chains.

David Henkes, Vice President
David Henkes is responsible for directing consulting and research assignments for food
and equipment manufacturer, operator and trade association clients active in the food and
foodservice industries. Henkes specializes in market and strategic planning, customer
satisfaction benchmarking, opportunity analyses, acquisition evaluations, new product
evaluations, concept testing, usage/attitude analyses, and distribution
systems analyses.

Tom Miner, Principal
Tom Miner brings over 25 years of restaurant industry experience to Technomic, specializing
in brand positioning, promotional strategies, new menu/concept development, operations
improvement, and a host of other consulting and research activities. Tom also has extensive
culinary experience, including over 10 years as an executive chef.

Chris Urban, Director, Knowledge Center
Chris Urban directs Technomic's Knowledge Center and can help access its unparalleled
library of print journals, previously-published research, and online resources. She also
manages Technomic's SmartSearch™ service, which offers literature searches, trend
tracking, competitive analysis, acquisition identification and more.