OUR STORY

Paul Buck is an industry veteran COO with experience that ranges from James Beard & Michelin Star restaurants to concessions. Paul understands the pressures of operators, guests, clients, venue owners, and ownership stakeholders. Early in his career, working for Restaurant Associates in NYC, Paul was the GM at the Ford Foundation, and then served on an acquisition team focused on expanding into food and beverage services at cultural centers, and won the contract at Lincoln Center. Paul led opening of all restaurants and food service operations at Lincoln Center while securing new contracts at the Kennedy Center and the Harvard Club of NYC where he became the GM for 6 years. During a hiatus from hospitality, Paul served as Sr. VP of M&T Bank in Buffalo NY where he led all Administrative, HR, and Bank owned Real Estate responsibilities during an impressive expansion of the bank, from $3B to $53B when he left after 9 years. Paul returned to RA as a VP of Operations, first in Cleveland, Ohio where he led the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Case Western University Faculty Club, and the Cleveland Browns Stadium food services. When Nick Valenti and Joachim Splichal reacquired Patina Restaurant Group from RA, Paul joined them in Los Angeles as VP of Operations for all cultural centers including: The Music Center, LACMA, Descanso Gardens, Norton Simon Museum, The Bowers Museum, The Segerstrom Center, and the San Francisco War Memorial. During this time Paul also organized and operated major catering events including: The US OPEN Tennis, The Ryder Cup, and the PGA Championship. He was then recruited to NYC by Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group where he became Managing Partner of all operations at MoMA for chapter 2 of its growth at The MODERN restaurant, Café 2, Terrace 5, and the MoMA Employee Cafeteria. After 5 years, Paul returned to Los Angeles, and Patina Restaurant Group as COO of West Coast Operations overseeing $500M of business. Currently, Paul serves as principal of Buck Hospitality and just finished the opening of Ty Warner’s Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club on Butterfly Beach in Montecito. Paul is the President of SoCal Squash and is leading efforts to bring Play Equity through Squash to LA with LA Parks & Recreation through PlayLA and into LAUSD, along with preparing for the LA28 Olympics where Squash will be played for the first time. Paul lives with his wife Tatiana in downtown LA.

Sky has 25 years of leading teams & operations for some of the nation’s most prestigious hospitality and real estate organizations. After 7 years in the back of house, moving up to sous chef, Sky got his full time start with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto where he rose to beverage director and eventually managed multiple units for Starr Restaurants in Philadelphia, a group that would go on to win a James Beard for Best Restaurateur. Sky has operated and consulted on over 30 restaurant openings in the nation’s largest real estate markets and with celebrity chefs such as Rick Bayless, Jose Andres, and Makoto Okuwa. While serving senior leadership roles with Bon Appetit Management Company and Patina Restaurant Group in Los Angeles he led the contract food service business for both while expanding their portfolios with chef partnerships. Sky has consulted and partnered in hospitality and real estate positioning for such organizations as Red Bull North America, The Capital Group, Westfield, CBRE and LBA Realty with a focus on increasing asset values through strategic placemaking and best in class operations. Sky has completed celebrity chef restaurant deals, owned, and operated restaurants from New York City to Mexico City and from Santa Monica to Sao Paulo. Sky has served as an advisor to restaurant technology company Kitchensync advising over 100 prestigious clients nationwide in restaurant company growth. Sky serves as COO of Mosaic which owns hospitality hotel projects such as the W Hotel in Hollywood and the Shay Hotel in Culver City. Sky lives in the South Bay with his wife and son, is an avid soccer fan and founding member of Los Angeles Football Club in DTLA.

Gary Campanella (PMP) is a career operations manager who spent 23 years providing a premium working environment for Capital Group. He is also an accomplished and experienced Project Manager and Mediator. His specialty is aligning business operations with strategic objectives. He excels at bringing teams together and facing them forward. He motivates multi-disciplinary teams, geographically distant teams, and teams with differing interests and styles to find common ground and common purpose. He is an adaptive leader who is committed to collaboration, coaching, and communication. Gary is also a Renaissance Man. His prior endeavors have included overnight stays in all 50 US States and 10 Canadian provinces, backpacking over 5000 miles throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, certification as a Hypnotherapist, two years as an OTR trucker, and multiple awards for his short stories and poetry. He is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Muleskinner Journal. He holds dual citizenship (U.S. and Italy/EU). He brings his stories, lessons learned, and diverse experiences to all his endeavors He values partnership, teamwork, and relationship above all. Born in Boston, he has lived in Los Angeles for 30 years, loves it, but still roots for the Red Sox. He has two kids in college, has a wife who is a better writer than he is, and owns a wonderful shelter dog who he rescued, not the other way around.

An Ohio native, Chef Michael is an alum of Johnson & Wales University, where he graduated Magna cum Laude in 2002. Early on, Santoro worked as sous chef at Mill’s Tavern, while completing a number of international stages that would prove invaluable to his development. His 2003 stint at Chef Heston Blumenthal’s world-renowned Fat Duck sparked his deep interest in food science. In 2005 Santoro served as a member of the opening team at Gilt at the New York Palace Hotel, under Chef Paul Liebrandt. In 2007, Santoro moved to Manhattan’s popular Boqueria, where he worked for Seamus Mullen as Chef de Cuisine. By early 2008, Santoro relocated to Washington D.C.’s Blue Duck Tavern. In early 2011, he moved to Philadelphia to work alongside restaurateurs Stephen Starr and Aimee Olexy to open Talula’s Garden. Chef Michael then opened his first restaurant - The Mildred. Critically acclaimed, The Mildred showcased seasonal stove-to-table cast iron cooking, set in a stunning South Philadelphia location. Upon the sale of his restaurant in 2015, Chef Michael worked with Elizabeth Blau to bring a new concept to the Watergate Hotel after its 125 million dollar extensive renovation, where he oversaw the creation and development of cuisine for the the hotel's many F&B outlets. After successfully relaunching the Watergate Hotel, Chef Michael moved to LA where he lead one of the world’s foremost luxury Food & Beverage Departments at the 5 Star Beverly Hills Hotel including the legendary Polo Lounge, Fountain Coffee Room, Cabana Café, Bar Nineteen12, in-room dining, and events. Most recently, Chef Michael was Culinary Director for the American Gonzo group including American Beauty, The Win-dow, and Superba Food & Bread. Mike Santoro currently serves as Chief Culinary Officer of Mosaic, overseeing all F&B operations at the W Hotel in Hollywood and The Shay Hotel in Culver City.