Andy Stern

Andy had already enjoyed extensive business success when he first got into the hospitality industry — and its appeal only grew as he came to understand it. “It was the people side of the business that attracted John and me, helping in an industry that was historically a dead-end for employees — where most workers just had jobs, never careers,” he says. As they grew their involvement and the Aurify network, “we saw that our impact could be multiplied, and there would be more and more opportunities for our people and thus our business.” Andy’s focus at Aurify has been both corporate and store-level: He manages operations and personnel, builds corporate infrastructure, and designs short- and long-term investment strategies. He also oversees brand marketing and community relations activities. Aurify targets original concepts for the fast casual restaurant segment because of the opportunity for growth: “At first, consumers come to you for the convenience,” says Andy, “but they stay with you only if they like the brand.”

Prior to co-founding Aurify Brands, Andy founded his own investment group, AMT Partners; was a Managing Director and Entrepreneur-In-Residence of Idealab! New York; founded and then sold VenCatalyst, Inc., the East Coast region’s first for-profit idea accelerator; founded Logex International LLC, one of the East Coast region’s first pure-play electronic commerce solutions providers (and, after its acquisition by AppNet, helped guide that company through its 1998 IPO); and served as Senior VP of Operations at The Olympus Group, Inc.

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John Rigos

John finds it hard to pinpoint his favorite part of what he does. “I love growing the business,” he says. “I love opening new stores. I love generating strong results. And doing it with multiple concepts and entrepreneurs at the same time. I love that each entrepreneur is pursuing their own dream, and we’re working together to make it happen.” John oversees the major investment and financial initiatives for Aurify, including overall strategy, expansion into new markets, and management of the financial and operating reporting structure of the company’s growing network. John works closely with each brand leader to ensure that projections, budgets and timelines are being achieved. He is also responsible for allocating capital to help develop and grow each concept.

Is he carving his own path? No — and yes. “My father was a Greek immigrant who worked in diners all his life,” says John, “and he and my mother never wanted me to get into the restaurant business — and I actually don’t feel as if I have. Yes, the companies we’re building feed people. But it’s a totally different environment. We want to build multiple, national brands that resonate with people — employees and customers — and make them happy.”

John has spent much of the past twenty years conceiving, growing and advising start-up businesses in various industries. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Kevyn Aucoin Beauty, helping to turn around a once-distressed cosmetics company. He was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Idealab; co-founder and co-CEO of Cductive.com, a leading digital distributor of music (an iTunes predecessor); and, early in his career, an investment banker with Prudential-Bache Capital Funding.

John graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Economics in 1989, and from INSEAD, with Dean’s List Honors, with a Master’s degree in Business Administration in 1996.

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Josh Morgan

Josh wound up where he belongs: in the hospitality business. After graduating from Cornell, and stints in both finance and commercial real estate, his professional passion could no longer be denied, and he roared through the reputable management training program at Houstons Restaurant Group, then managed restaurants for the company in Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. For several years, Josh worked directly with the founder, overseeing multiple concepts, including Houstons, Bandera and Gulfstream. In 2009, Josh came to New York and opened Choptank, a West Village restaurant inspired by the food of his home state of Maryland. Two years later, Josh sold Choptank, and was approached by Chef Daniel Humm and Will Guidara, owners of Eleven Madison Park, to open their new project, the Nomad Restaurant at the Nomad Hotel. In its first year, the Nomad earned 3 stars from The New York Times, 1 Michelin star and a James Beard award nomination.

After a decade working in the full-service restaurant business, Josh was eager to pursue his fascination with the fast-casual segment of the industry, and in 2013 joined Melt Shop as operating partner. After a year and a half there, Josh became operating partner for Aurify Brands, with involvement in all the brands. With his wealth of experience, skill and optimism, Josh sees his job now is to “give our teams the tools and resources they need to succeed.” With that, he believes, nothing can stop Aurify and its brands. “Growth is the engine that guarantees opportunities and future security. When we perform well, we create real opportunities for growth. And it’s limitless.”

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Marina Roulis

At Aurify, as with any growing company, lots of things need to get done in a day. No person is involved with more of them than Marina.

Since Aurify’s inception in 2005, Marina has quietly defined the phrase “go-to person.” She is central to the company’s daily operations; helps to ensure compliance to company policies and regulatory requirements; facilitates communication between the brands, and between the corporate team and the brands; sets up entities; reviews leases; and deploys her expertise to help with human resources, employee benefits, employee and vendor relations, and network development. She acts as the company’s liaison on all legal matters. It would seem an exhausting set of responsibilities — except Marina gets it all done with professionalism and enthusiasm.

Marina graduated from Queens College in 1981 with a B.S. in Social Sciences, and received her Certification in Human Capital Management from NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Before joining Aurify, she was Executive Assistant for years at the law firm of Schulte Roth and Zabel, LLP. Away from work, Marina likes to travel, walk avidly and watch sports; more than anything, she enjoys spending time with her family. Although Marina may technically do her job “behind the scenes,” her importance to Aurify is front and center. Her single biggest professional responsibility? “I like to see people succeed,” she says, “and it’s my job to be utterly supportive, in whatever way I can.”

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Robert Garrett

Rob has extensive experience helping companies grow. He has worked closely with Boards of directors, financial sponsors and corporate teams to implement growth strategies, merge acquired companies into existing operations, and restructure operations. “My passion is problem solving — framing issues that need solving and working with all the stakeholders to develop an operating plan that aligns vision, strategy, profit and culture.” He is a hands-on leader who is not afraid to roll-up his shirtsleeves.

Over the past 20 years, Rob has both run and served as the senior financial executive of a number of middle market companies in the consumer products and services space. His broad range of strategy, financial and operating experience includes public and private company turnarounds (Forward Industries), entrepreneurial start-ups (Arcadia Aviation), Fortune 100 media companies (Sony Corporation and Scripps Howard) and middle market manufacturing/distribution businesses (The Excel Group). This is Rob’s first foray into the hospitality industry.

At Aurify, Rob’s role is to oversee the finance department; working closely with each brand to improve unit level economics and instill a culture where financial accountability becomes an integral part of every team member’s decision-making process. More broadly, he is working closely with John and Andy to articulate and quantify the long term growth strategies of the company, hone in on the key drivers of the business and help the operating partners of each brand develop sustainable and differentiated strategies to grow their concepts into national brands.

Rob graduated from Princeton University in 1990 with a B.A. in History and received an M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1997.

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Josh Sharkey

Josh is equally a chef and entrepreneur at heart. He brings over 15 years of experience as a professional chef, from Michelin Star restaurants in Norway, to working with some of the best chefs in NYC including Gray Kunz, David Bouley, and Floyd Cardoz. His first solo project as owner and Chef was the critically acclaimed Bark Hot Dogs. Bark opened in 2009 and quickly won the hearts of New Yorkers and the U.S., winning “Top 50 Casual Restaurants in America” and “Best Hot Dog in NY” by NY Mag among many other accolades. Josh’s passion for detail and efficiency also led him to begin building a better mouse trap for recipe management and will soon unveil a new game-changing software application for the recipe creation process.

Josh brings all that experience, dedication, and laser focus on details to Aurify as our Chief Operating Officer.  His belief that great food and great restaurants are the sum of their parts leads Aurify, and their brands, to treat the products and people equally with respect and integrity to produce amazing food and culture.

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Jason Anello

Jason’s a marketing maverick who spent the last 20 years pioneering the connection between experiential and digital using hospitality and narrative as his tentpoles. His marketing litmus test is simply, “Will it make them smile.” He ran innovation marketing teams at Yahoo, Ogilvy and Digitas before starting his own agency, Manifold. Now, as Aurify’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jason has married his passion for food and hospitality with his marketing and behavioral science skills to disrupt the very industry he’s used to guide his work.

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Juanina Kocher

Having been in the hospitality business for over 15 years, Juanina Kocher was a perfect fit for the Aurify team. Juanina moved to New York in 2008 after graduating from the University of Georgia. Although she moved to the city in hopes of working in non-profit PR, her already long resume in restaurants and love for all things food made for a natural transition into the world of New York hospitality. She has worked for various chefs and restaurant groups in Manhattan excelling in positions ranging from marketing, food PR, catering and special events. She is thrilled to now be an integral part of Aurify Brands. Juanina is a supporter of several charities including City Harvest and Pencils of Promise where she, along with the help of many contributions, recently built a school in Laos. She is also a member of the Toklas Society, a not-for-profit organization for women in food and hospitality helping to provide inspiration, mentorship, and community. Her most recent “passion project” is Classic City Cooking, a cookbook based on the restaurants and chefs of her hometown, Athens, Ga.“I always have to be doing something…life is short.” she says, “You have to make the most of it.”

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Spencer Rubin

As founder of Melt Shop, and head of its brand development and daily operations, Spencer calls himself “a lifer” in the restaurant business, and can hardly remember a time when he wasn’t all in. By age six, he was cooking the basics in the family kitchen. Before he was ten, he knew this was his calling, fascinated by the idea of creating a business where people could eat delicious food every single day. At fourteen, he became prep cook for a special events company. Equally passionate and talented, Spencer worked through a number of related positions, including interning at Union Square Hospitality Group and Restaurant Associates, and working as project manager at BCD, where he rolled out fast casual restaurants across the New York metro area. Spencer graduated from The Hotel School at Cornell University. Eventually, Aurify was fortunate to find someone so brimming with enthusiasm and know-how. “There are so many details, moving parts, all of which need to be choreographed to perfection to get the overall product and the entire experience right,” says Spencer. “I love what I do because I love all of it — the food, the people, the challenge.”

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Andy Duddleston

Andy has always been drawn to helping people — and food and health simply became the effective, engaging vehicles for his public service. While in college he worked as a barista at River Rock Coffee in St. Peter, Minnesota, and spent breaks helping local communities in Belize (working with elementary school kids to identify fruit plants and trees) and Zanzibar (working with local health officials to test drinking water quality). After serving in the Peace Corps in Niger, Andy went on to the Wagner School at NYU, where in 2009 he earned a Masters in Public Administration. That year, Andy first teamed up with Andy (Stern) and John when Andy created Champion Access, an organization that taught management competencies to adults working in the food industry, and helped them to access career opportunities and achieve to their highest potential.

Andy showed his versatility by then overseeing the management team at Wahoo’s Tacos. Soon after, he co-founded The Little Beet, helping to bring to life a farm-to-table-inspired concept that had one simple philosophy: to serve real food deliciously. The Little Beet brought together so much of what Andy has been about for years. “Not only do I get to be an integral part of how we grow and evolve, from a branding, operational and menu perspective,” says Andy, “but I get to be inspired by my amazing team on a daily basis.” Best of all about his current role? “There is always an opportunity to impact lives.”

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Field Failing

When Field Failing ditched his job in corporate finance to pursue his dream of being a professional cyclist, he was forever on the road, burning up to 7,000 calories daily, and in constant search of replenishment that was quick, affordable, nutritious and tasty. Fast food options were convenient but lacked nutritional value; on the rare occasions when he had time, he cooked, as much a passion for him as cycling. While Field’s aspiration to become a world-class cyclist maxed out somewhere short of the Tour de France, soon after business school he had his chicken epiphany. Chicken was always available and affordable, a great source of protein, and its essentially malleable flavor lent itself to a particularly broad spectrum of preparations and seasonings. The entrepreneur and talented chef in him was stoked by the restaurant concept that would become Fields Good Chicken, and he began developing amazing chicken recipes on the four-burner stove in his New York apartment, arriving at hard-won principles that would eventually delight legions of Fields Good Chicken customers. The result is what Field himself had once craved: Healthy, filling, delicious, varied, high-quality, affordable food, in an inviting setting. “I seek adventure, both the journey and the goal,” he says. “And working on something I believe in and that excites me every day.”

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