Tuscan River has assembled a team of professionals to lead the Company through its initial growth stage. These individuals are leaders of firms with resources that contribute to the Company’s execution of its growth plan.
Thomas M. Richert, Chief Executive Officer
Tom Richert is an award-winning project executive with nearly 30 years experience in all facets of complex, multi-project program planning and execution. An international authority on project work optimization, as based on collaborative workflow processes, he is one of the first project professionals in the United States to employ lean project delivery methods to the management of construction projects, and has lectured on lean construction practices to graduate level classes at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Chair of the core leadership team for the New England Chapter of the Lean Construction Institute.
As a development program management consultant, some of Tom’s recent clients include private educational institutions in Massachusetts, two private not-for-profit organizations near Bar Harbor, Maine, and private equity offices in New York and Stamford, Connecticut. Previously, Tom managed the California office of a construction project management firm as part of that company’s private client practice. Tom’s recent practice includes the management of individual building development programs ranging up to $70 million while consistently providing high levels of value, as determined by clients, all the while exceeding internal profit margin targets.
Tom has served as the senior cost estimator on a program management team responsible for a $2.3 billion facilities development program in southern California. He accurately established capital cost budgets for each of the more than 150 projects associated with the program. Tom was also responsible for directing the project controls reporting team, which provided senior executives and board members with current summary and detailed financial and schedule information for each of the projects.
Grace Andrews, Park Staffing & Training Strategy and Implementation
Grace Andrews is an organizational development expert with direct experience in recruiting and training customer service teams in the hospitality industry. Grace is advising Tuscan River on property staffing and training. Grace’s consulting company provides expertise in management development, executive staffing strategy, board facilitation, and hospitality specific customer service training. Grace is a frequent keynote speaker and provides executive coaching services.
Early in her career, Grace served as the training director for the Sonesta hotel chain, staffing and training staff at Sonesta properties, including hotels in Egypt, Peru and Italy. Grace’s hospitality clients include Copley Square Hotel, John Harvard’s Brew House, Kellogg Conference Center, Le Meridien Hotels, Nantucket Island Resorts, Ritz Carlton, Sonesta International Hotels, Trapp Family Lodge, and Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort.
David Chilinski, Architectural Design
The President and Co-founder of Prellwitz Chilinski Associates, Inc., David has practiced Architecture, Interiors and Urban Design for over 30 years. He leads an architectural firm noted for its entrepreneurial spirit and unwavering commitment to creating vibrant, sustainable community places – including commercial and retail developments such as Legacy Place for WS Development in Dedham, Massachusetts, Paramus Park Shopping Center for the Rouse Company (now General Growth) in Paramus, New Jersey, and City Sports stores in 6 states. The firm’s restaurant design work includes new design prototypes for Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Bertucci’s, and Panera Bread.
Pat Corbitt, Amusement Theme Integration
Pat Corbitt is a 40-year veteran of television and film live-action, animation, and visual effects production. One of the world's authorities in digital and legacy live-action production technologies and computer animation, for decades Pat has been a guest speaker and panelist at the NAB, IBC, Macworld, ITS, ITVA, and a host of other international industry conferences, including at Universities and International Film Festivals. With over 50 international awards to his credit, Pat has produced animations and graphics for nearly every major domestic broadcast television network, several studios and independent producers, and for most of the Fortune 500 companies. Pat served as a visual effects director/producer for the feature films “Megiddo” (theatrical), “Britannic” (Fox World Premier), “I’ll Remember April” (Fox Family), “Doomsday Rock” (Fox Family), “Ravager” (Sci-Fi Channel World Premier), “Within the Rock” (Sci-Fi Channel World Premier), and “Raptor Island” (Sci-Fi Channel World Premier). Pat supervised special effects and CGI for “Alien Apocalypse,” the top rated original World Premier movie in the history of the Sci-Fi Channel.
Notable among Pat’s diverse television animation and directing credits are: "CBS 48 Hours" (original show open and interstitial animations), "NBC Wimbledon" (animation), NASCAR Pocono 500 (director), “NBC Olympics Home Video (graphics and animation package), "The Magic of Muhammad Ali" (independent, PBS, producer/director), The Americas Cup (ESPN animation), Wide World of Sports international feeds (director, multiple years), "Dow Jones Week," and "Wall Street Journal Report" (director).
Ed Doyle, Restaurant Development and Operations
Ed is a twenty-five year long veteran of the foodservice industry and the founder of RealFood Consulting. Ed received his degree from the Culinary Institute of America and honed his craft in some of the finest kitchens in and around Boston. Quickly rising through the ranks, Ed became the Director of Culinary Operations at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center in Boston where his food gained acclaim from diners and critics alike. Esquire magazine selected the Seaport's Aura restaurant as “one of the best new restaurants in the United States.”
While the range of Ed's culinary skills affords him great breadth in the kitchen, he is also renowned for his business acumen. Working in high-volume, top quality food service facilities provided Ed the opportunity to perfect systems development, P&L management and analysis, cost controls, and team development. He is adept at implementing seamless solutions to restaurant operations. In addition to building a sustainable food service business model, Ed has pioneered the operation of green restaurants. He implemented Boston's first on-site composting system in the Seaport Hotel and developed an organic garden to supply fresh herbs and produce to the hotel kitchen. Ed teaches Operation Frontline classes with Share Our Strength to underprivileged families, teaches cooking classes at schools in the Boston area, and participates in many area fundraising events.
Patrick Flaherty, Brand Development & Marketing
A principal at Westerham Group, LLC Pat’s focus is on leading the process of creating Positioning and Marketing strategies that help make client ventures focused, competitive and successful. Prior to his current activity, Pat was Executive Vice President of Marketing with Reebok from 1999-2001. Reporting to the President, he was brought in to help turn the business around. Reebok was very successful in increasing market share with Pat leading the product effort through dynamic segmentation strategies. Wall Street, having recognized the improving competitive trend, increased the value of the company's stock over 250% during the turnaround period.
Prior to joining Reebok, Pat was with Sony as Senior Vice President – U.S. Marketing where he led the marketing efforts of eight operating companies and also directed and integrated the work of five advertising agencies. Importantly, Pat led the much-acclaimed introduction of the Sony PlayStation into the U.S. market and directed marketing for the VAIO computer U.S. introduction. Prior to Sony, Pat obtained his international experience at Polaroid Corporation as Vice President, Asia Pacific Region, and in this capacity significantly accelerated growth in China, India, Korea and Japan. Pat initially crafted his skills at Gillette and Johnson & Johnson where he spent the first years of his career in a variety of Sales and Marketing positions of increasing responsibility.
Doug Fleener, Retail Experience & Operations
Doug Fleener is a veteran retailer with over 25 years of hands-on retail experience with world-class retailers including Bose Corporation and The Sharper Image. He has also owned and operated his own specialty stores. In his ten years at Bose, Doug grew the Retail Direct Group from four to 100 stores and was instrumental in developing Bose’s unique and engaging retail methods. Under Doug’s leadership, the Bose retail stores became one of the pre-eminent specialty retailers in consumer electronics, known for their highly customer focused approach and multi-media Bose Music Theater Show. Doug left Bose to continue to refine Experience Based Retailing and share with others his passion for customer and employee experiences.
Doug is a consultant, keynote speaker and author of numerous articles. He is the author of the book, “The Profitable Retailer,” and has been quoted in Entrepreneur magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, Shopping Centers Today, and numerous other newspapers and magazines. Doug’s retail expertise has also contributed to programs on MSNBC.
Tinsley Galyean, PhD, Interactive Amusements
Tinsley Galyean was the first person to receive his Ph.D. from the Interactive Cinema group at the MIT Media Lab, where he worked to evolve cinematic storytelling techniques for use in interactive experiences. Shortly after leaving the Media Lab, Tinsley worked as a freelance New Media Designer. In 1996, Tinsley founded Nearlife. Nearlife is known for its work leveraging the power of new technologies to create unique entertainment and educational experiences for clients. These clients include Intel, Hewlett-Packard, British Telecom, AT&T, Museum of Science & Industry Chicago, Boston Museum of Science, The Millennium Dome UK, and SciTech Perth, among others.
Much of Tinsley’s work at Nearlife has been on Location Based Entertainment (LBE) and museum exhibits. Examples of this work are the large-scale interactive table and touch walls for: MoMA, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Liberty Science Center, Georgia Aquarium, and the new interactive experience for Cirque Du Soleil’s Beatles Revolution Lounge. Tinsley is an inventor and holds a number of patents, several of which have been used in the development of new children's television projects. This work has included broadcast and online projects for Disney, Warner Brothers and Discovery Kids. The work for Discovery Kids received an Emmy nomination.
Michael Staub, Restaurant Operations
Michael Staub has been involved in the restaurant industry since 1978. He successfully ran his own restaurant/bakery/specialty food shop in Wellesley, Massachusetts called The Charcuterie for several years before negotiating the profitable sale of the business. Michael was once part owner and business manager of Panini Bakery, a wholesale and retail bakery near Harvard Square that enjoyed fifteen successful years before the sale of the business in 2004. Michael provides pro forma and operational services to start-up and existing restaurants, as well as other food service operators. His pro forma work involves the analysis of concepts, locations and capital structures, often culminating in the preparation of a business plan to receive bank or private placement financing.
Operational work includes the daily management of small business, accounts payable and receivable, payroll and general ledger accounting, and financial statement preparation and analysis. Clients have included some of Boston's most viable and successful new restaurants, among them: Tremont 647, L'Espalier and Sel De La Terre, Salamander, Providence, Chez Henri, Les Zygomates, Olives, Jae's Café, Flora, Vinny Testa's, Pho Republique, EVOO, Not Your Average Joe's, Icarus, Upstairs on the Square, Rosie's Bakery, the Briar Group, Lumiere, the Elephant Walk, the Fireplace, Tomasso, Craigie Street Bistro and Z Square.
Scott Webb, Child Interactive Amusement Development
Scott Webb is a creative media executive with over 25 years of success and accomplishments. Scott was part of the core team that developed and launched Nickelodeon, the first cable TV network just for children. In 1988, Scott became Nickelodeon’s first Creative Director, responsible for the network’s brand identity, on-air personality and maintaining their special relationship with kids. Scott has been referred to as ‘the heart and soul’ of Nickelodeon because of his leadership role in maintaining Nickelodeon’s mission and integrity through the company’s expansion into consumer products, location based entertainment, magazine, online content and international markets. Scott was also responsible for the development and launch of all of Nickelodeon’s brand extensions including Nick-at-Nite, Nick Jr., Kids’ Choice Awards, Noggin, Nicktoons, TV Land and many more.
In the 1990’s, Scott launched all of Nickelodeon’s web sites and ran the company’s Creative Lab, a first of its kind cross-media development unit charged with developing innovative new formats, stories and characters across media platforms. Scott wrote state-of-the-art branding tools “How to Nickelodeon” (with Donna Friedman) and “The Nickelodeon Manifesto”, to help institutionalize Nickelodeon’s mission and commitment to children. In 2000, Scott joined Geraldine Laybourne’s Oxygen Media, providing creative leadership for programming, promotion and marketing for the new media network for women. In 2006 Scott became Chief Creative Officer at Worldwide Biggies, a digital entertainment studio producing TV, online video, games, virtual worlds and new forms of interactive storytelling.
Carl Yankowski, Brand Development & Marketing
Carl’s expertise is delivering breakthrough competitive advantage to organizations through disruptively creative products, branding, and demand generation. His work includes brand positioning, elegant design, marketing, budget optimization, and results measurement. Prior to forming Westerham Group, Carl was recruited to lead Palm, Inc. as CEO in December 1999, three months before its $1billion IPO. He grew the company to a $2 billion sales rate, drove unaided awareness to over 65%, and then restructured it dramatically after the early 2001 global economic downturn. Immediately prior to joining Palm, Carl was CEO of The Reebok Brand, where he led the worldwide Reebok-brand business, a multibillion dollar enterprise. During his tenure there, Carl successfully reorganized the company for growth, significantly streamlined operations, and improved profitability.
Previously, Carl spent over 4 years at Sony Electronics, Inc. as President and COO, operationally responsible for the development and launch of numerous successful products in growing markets and new business categories for Sony, including DVD, digital imaging, DSS, and VAIO personal computers. He helped drive profitable U.S. revenue from $6 billion to over $10 billion, and oversaw significant expansion of U.S. manufacturing and R&D. Under his guidance, the company was named the most respected brand name in America in 1995 and 1997. In an earlier position as Chairman of Polaroid's Asia Pacific Region, Carl led strong revenue and profit growth in the business imaging market globally, and set up the company's Asia Pacific headquarters. He has held marketing and strategic leadership positions in several prestigious technology and consumer products companies, including General Electric, PepsiCo, Memorex and Procter & Gamble.